This is center of a bunch of crazy conspiracy theories, I’ve read the patent in full and my best guess is it is a way to patent vaccine methods still theoretical?
I was not aware you could patent an actual virus, not something engineered or invented.
So, as you’ve read, it seems pretty much laid out in the “in one aspect…in another aspect…blah blah” part:
They’re basically depositing this information and “providing methods” (which IIRC is probably the most “patentable” part) for detecting the virus and converting to vaccine, etc.
Nowhere does it say the U.S. invented the virus (which is probably at least part of the conspiracy theorists’ claim); to the contrary it tells where and when it was isolated in the field.
Finally, one reason to patent something is to prevent someone else from patenting it. Which in this case just might be to prevent some company from holding victims, doctors, and governments hostage to massive licensing fees or whatever else to receive diagnosis and treatment.
TLDR version: They patented this strain preemptively to stop a for-profit company from interfering with research, and it’s moot anyway because the Supreme Court ruled last year that genetic information is non-patentable.
As I recall, when they filed the patent the law was less than clear on what was patentable in bioresearch. So the CDC filed a bunch of these for different diseases to protect them from patent trolls. I believe the law has been clarified since then and this patent is no longer enforceable. I am in no way an expert in this though.
Edit; or what Smapti said. ^^^
I don’t understand the thinking of these conspiracy theorists. If the US created the virus they wouldn’t then create a public record of it at the patent office.
Am I the only one who misread the title as “patient”? I had a hard time figuring out how the question could be meaningful.
You’re not the only one. I did the same thing. I clicked on it simply because it seemed like such an odd question.
Yeah, not noticing how recent the post was (otherwise the tense is wrong), I thought the answer was, “Because the guy lied on the exit forms.”
Oh, ha ha, got me, too. Thanks, Chronos.
As for you, Grude, I thought you had “dropped out.”
To be clear I know the USA did not invent the virus etc, but my urge to talk back to the conspiracy posts made me pause because I honestly couldn’t figure out exactly what the patent was about. I didn’t want to say anything untrue lol.
Sorry to everyone who thought it said “patient”, and I’m not sure what dropped out means.
Also, if anyone sells or spreads Ebola without paying royalties, they can be sued for patent infringement.
Exactly.
I can sleep soundly now that I know all those supposedly “innocent” ebola victims were actually engaging in unlicensed copying, modification and distribution of American IP.
Thanks, as usual Snopes comes through.
Short version is that yes the CDC did have a patent on a different variety of ebola than the current outbreak, this was before a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that such patents were invalid. They did it to stop others from patenting it, and to allow researchers free access.
I think the conspiracy theories will be hard to fight because there is no good way to phrase the truth in less then a sentence, you’re forced to admit yes it is a patent on ebola and people go “I KNEW IT”!
:smack:I lost a bet too I said there is no way you can patent a wild virus you have done no modifications on the patent would never have been granted. Doh!
Makes me wonder why these patents were ever granted, and who else patented found viruses and if anyone ever tried to enforce one. Cease and desist, I own the patent on that variety of varicella in your test tubes.
This, unfortunately, is a problem when it comes to fighting a lot of different nonsense. A short sentence or witty soundbite can be untrue but require a lengthy explanation. Some people (especially politicians and PR people) use this principle to intentionally spread misinformation. If this principle doesn’t have a name, it should.
There is the Reston virus, which is a strain of Ebola that was discovered in Reston, VA.