RT Article
T1 WHEN SPEED TRULY MATTERS, OPENNESS IS THE ANSWER
JF Bioethics
VO 23
IS 7
SP 385
OP 393
A1 Marturano, Antonio
LA English
YR 2009
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1781881928
AB In this paper I analyse the ethical implications of the two main competing methodologies in genomic research. I do not aim to provide another contribution from the mainstream legal and public policy perspective; rather I offer a novel approach in which I analyse and describe the patent-and-publish regime (the proprietary regime) led by biologist J. Craig Venter and the ‘open-source’ methodologies led by biotechnology Nobel laureate John Sulston. The ‘open-source methodologies’ arose in biotechnology as an alternative to the patent-and-publish regime in the wake of the explosion in computer technology. Indeed, the tremendous increase in computer technology has generated a corresponding increase in the pace of genomics research. I conclude this paper by arguing that while the patent-and-publish method is a transactional method based on the exchange of extrinsic goods (patents in exchange for research funds), the free and open-source methodology (FLOSS)1 is a transformational method based on a visionary ideal of science, which leads to prioritizing intrinsic goods in scientific research over extrinsic goods.
K1 Merton's principles
K1 Intrinsic Good
K1 copyleft
K1 patent-and-publish
K1 Free Software Foundation
K1 Open Source
DO 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2009.01723.x