# Can You Copywrite Your Own DNA?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 31, 2001, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173 "2001-08-31T18:48:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/1 "2001-08-31T18:48:48Z")
With all the controversy about genetic engineering, cloning, etc., it occurred to me that the large firms will probably stand to make piles of money…
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/2 "2001-08-31T18:50:14Z")
I would think you probably could, but you would first have to catagorize it. Good luck!
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/3 "2001-08-31T18:50:29Z")
I know a guy who was trying to do it by presenting his DNA as music and copywriting that. I never heard if he was sucessfull though.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/4 "2001-08-31T18:52:23Z")
clarification: I do not know the guy personally. I read it somewhere. It was more than a year ago and I can’t find the article now.
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### Author:  [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/5 "2001-08-31T19:13:31Z")
I seriously doubt that one can **copyright** something that is naturally occurring. Copyrights are for creative works: written material, music, the visual arts, etc. _Maybe_ one could **patent** one’s own DNA, but I doubt it.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/6 "2001-08-31T19:15:08Z")
From [the Copyright office of the LOC](http://www.loc.gov/copyright/faq.html#q1):
> [@](#):
>
> Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.
So the answer is “no, you can’t.” You didn’t write it. Therefore it’s not an “original work of authorship.”
Hope this helps.
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### Author:  [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/7 "2001-08-31T19:32:54Z")
You can only copright what you have created? So could parents copyright a childs DNA? Could BioEngeneers copyright GM crops?
I think this is somthing that will need to be looked in the near future, I think it’s more licky to happen with GM crops (super toamtoes etc) that Humans, initially at least.
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/8 "2001-08-31T19:34:26Z")
So is God the author of our DNA… or is it your parents?
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/9 "2001-08-31T19:40:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Gartog \*
> You can only copright what you have created? So could parents copyright a childs DNA? Could BioEngeneers copyright GM crops?
You can only copyright what you have authored. You do not author the DNA sequence of your offspring: it happens as a natural process of conception.
Genetically engineered crops may be subject to patent, but copyright still does not apply.
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### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/10 "2001-08-31T19:46:56Z")
AFAIK, DNA is not copyrighted, it is patented.
If you come up with a use or treatment based on a specific sequence of DNA, you can patent it. I don’t think you can simply patent your genome. It’s not clear that _you_ own your genome anyway.
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### Author:  [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/11 "2001-08-31T19:58:57Z")
Genes can and are patented. In fact the gene for breast cancer is patented, and anytime anyone is tested for this gene, part of the testing fee is paid to the patent holder.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/12 "2001-08-31T20:14:09Z")
I don’t disagree with your statement about the gene for breast cancer being patented, **bio-brat** , but if the patent holders get a royalty every time a test is done, then it almost certainly has to do with them holding a patent on the test rather than on the gene.
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### Author:  [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/13 "2001-08-31T20:28:17Z")
Yes and no. Their patent covers any use for “diagnostic and therapeutic applications”. So they do indeed make the test, but no one else is allowed to develop one.
> [@](#):
>
> The BRCA2 patent issued today provides Myriad with exclusive rights to commercialize laboratory testing services, diagnostic test kits and therapeutic products that use the BRCA2 DNA sequence.
Here’s a link for the company who holds the patent: [http://www.myriad.com/pr/19981117.html](http://www.myriad.com/pr/19981117.html)
This is a very big controversy in the Molecular Biology world right now.
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### Author:  [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/14 "2001-08-31T20:43:20Z")
DNA wouldn’t fit into copyright laws. It isn’t expression - it doesn’t express the creativity of any human author. It also suffers from the defect of being functional. Copyright does not protection functional featrues. Patent law is the appropriate realm (if any) for protecting DNA.
Copyright requires some creative expression on the part of its author. So, sitting down and putting a group of names in alphabetical order won’t get you a copyright in the list of names - its too ordinary of an order. Put a list of names such that they all seem to spell out meaningful sentences, and you might have a copyright.
Even setting aside whether children could themselves could be subject to copyright, procreating is to ordinary to be creative for the meaning of copyright law.
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### Author:  [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/15 "2001-08-31T21:41:25Z")
So copywrite is the wrong word.
Since it seems obvious that various DNA sequences will be patented, couldn’t someone who’s the lucky recipient, of say, a natural immunity to disease patent their own genome?
I’m just thinking down the road, when people will be picking out “designer” babies. The raw material would have to have come from somewhere. Just curious, is all.
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### Author:  [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/16 "2001-08-31T22:07:51Z")
**Tedster** , **copywrite** is almost always the wrong word. Please use **copyright** more often than not.
DNA sequences have been patented. IIRC, you need to identify a seqence of genes and tell us what it does to recieve a patent. Simply having DNA in your body won’t get you a patent. Consider **bio-brat** ’s post, that explains a gene was patented for a particular purpose.
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### Author:  [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/17 "2001-08-31T23:02:17Z")
The US Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 1980 case that lvigin organisms can be patented if they meet the standards of patentability (novel usage, most likely). Since that decision, more than 80 organisms have been patened, including a genetically-engineered mouse. From [Rifkin Files Human-Chimp Chimaera Patent](http://www.tao.ca/~ban/498MSpatents.htm) and verifiable elsewhere.
Conceptual artist, Larry Miller, of the “Gates of Heck” was selling personalized documents that claim to copyright the expression of your DNA - i.e. YOU - as an original work. These documents have not been tested in the legal system. After consulting with a lawyer, it was determined that both a patent and a copyright are necessary. FRom [Own your DNA - and get it in writing](http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,2804,00.html).
In recent news there have been reports of a company willing to copyright a celebrity’s DNA at $10,000 a pop. It may be a silly idea, but it seems there’s nothing to prevent you or I from copyrighting ourselves. Be sure to get a patent, though.
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/18 "2001-08-31T23:19:16Z")
The issue of _patenting_ genes has been raised most recently with regard to people who appear to be AIDS-resistant. The consensus seems to be that if researchers decide to patent someone’s genes, the patent-holders are entitled to any benefits, while the actual possessor (owner?) of the genes gets nothing.
Not sure how that would apply if you tried to patent your own genes, or whether you could be granted a patent without defining the usefulness of your particular genetic makeup.
A few articles:
[Whose Body Is It Anyway?](http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,274155-412,00.shtml)
[Who Owns Your Genes?](http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/WhoOwnsYourGenes.html)
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### Author:  [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/19 "2001-08-31T23:33:01Z")
You can not get a patent on a human. You can only get a patent on a genome if it is engineered in such a way that you have manipulated to the point that it no longer occurs in nature. OR you can patent a gene, which would fall under discovery.
In other words, I cannot patent a mouse a rat a snake a bacterium or any other being. But I CAN patent a gene DISCOVERY, or a bacterium that I have manipulated to produce a drug product or mammalian cell that I have genetically engineered.
I suppose that you could put a copywright on your genome, but unless you have a clone hanging around I wouldn’t worry about anyone using it.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-copywrite-your-own-dna/79173/20 "2001-09-01T01:32:44Z")
In the foggy depths of my mind I seem to recall that someone once tried to copywrite (or patent) his own fingerprint. Searching hasn’t been fruitful. Does anyone remember anything, or am I hallucinating again.
Peace,
mangeorge