# Should you be able to patent a human gene?

- Institution: TED
- Department: TEDxAmoskeagMillyard
- Speaker: Tania Simoncelli
- Year: 2014
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Biology, Medicine and health, Society and politics, Law
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/tania_simoncelli_should_you_be_able_to_patent_a_human_gene)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

A decade ago, US law said human genes were patentable -- which meant patent holders had the right to stop anyone from sequencing, testing or even looking at a patented gene. Troubled by the way this law both harmed patients and created a barrier to biomedical innovation, Tania Simoncelli and her colleagues at the ACLU challenged it. In this riveting talk, hear the story of how they took a case everybody told them they would lose all the way to the Supreme Court.

## Lectures

1. [Should you be able to patent a human gene?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/tania_simoncelli_should_you_be_able_to_patent_a_human_gene/bc4478055398), 18 min (TED's player)