Title: The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA
Presenter: Jorge L. Contreras
Presidential Scholar and Professor of Law
Director, Program on Intellectual Property Law & Policy University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
When: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM March 16, 2021 Location: ZOOM
Professor Contreras will talk about his recently published book:
The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA. In this book, Professor Contreras narrates the lawsuit that reverberated throughout the biotechnology industry. At the center of this story is Myriad Genetics, a company that originated at the University of Utah and eventually controlled the patents on the BRCA1/2 genes. The US Supreme Court ruling in 2013 on this case changed patent law and the way that DNA is treated in the legal system. The Genome Defense tells a story that started in Utah but had effects on biomedical research and treatment far beyond our state.
Jorge L. Contreras teaches and researches in the areas of intellectual property, property law, technical standardization, antitrust and science policy. In 2020 he received the University of Utah's Distinguished Research Award and is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, and was awarded the Rossman Memorial Award by the Patent & Trademark Office Society in 2022.
Professor Contreras has written or edited eleven books and published more than 100 scholarly articles and book chapters. His most recent book, The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA (NY: Hachette/Algonquin, 2021), has been praised by the NY Times, Wall St. Journal, Nature and numerous other outlets, and was named "Best Patent Law Book of the Year" by the international IPKat blog.
Background reading: The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA
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