Private property, collective property, and public property in the age of genomics

Abstract

Genomics has developed at a time when science has become increasingly connected with the market. The result has been a strong trend towards privatisation of genetic resources and genetic knowledge, marked by the patenting of thousands of genetic sequences, the proliferation of databases protected by commercial confidentiality, and the signing of exclusive access contracts concerning populations' genetic and medical data. The granting of excessively broad patents, covering both a gene's uses and the gene itself, is liable to slow the pace of research and to encourage the emergence of monopolies in the domain of health. This trend toward privatisation is neither one-way, however, nor entirely settled. There are, within the domain of genomics, models for the production and distribution of common and/or public goods. The paper studies these models and suggests solutions which could allow a better balance among private property, collective property, and public property.