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>Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 23:13:43 -0400
>From: srctran@wo*.st*.co* (Gregory Aharonian)
>To: patents@wo*.st*.co*
>Subject: PATNEWS: Patents plaguing medical procedures field
>
>
>     For those in the software world complaining about software patents - you
>are not alone.  It seems that the medical community is just as contentious as
>the software community, at least according to an article in today's Wall
>Street Journal.
>
>     The issues are much the same, those in this case we are dealing with
>medical method patents - for example, a new surgical technique for removing
>gallstones, or as mentioned in the article, a new way of performing incisions
>for cataract operations that does not require stitches.  Note that in many
>countries around the world, medical method patents are prohibited.
>
>     On one side are the supporters of the incentive of successful innovation.
>"The critics want to have their cake and eat it too", says Roger Schechter, a
>law professor at George Washington University.  "They believe that these new
>techniques should be freely available, without even considering that maybe
>[the techniques] wouldn't exist in the first place unless there was a patent
>to encourage them".
>
>     On the other side, we have the commonwealthists.  "Doctors have always
>shared information with one another because we feel that's the hallmark of a
>profession", says Lonnie Bristow, president-elect of the American Medical
>Association.  "Our role isn't to secrete information away".  Other critics
>argue that doctors have an ethical obligation to disseminate such innovations
>without charge.  The AMA and other other medical groups have passed motions
>urging Congress to bar method patents.
>
>    What makes this more interesting, especially compared to software patents,
>is that certain health management procedures makes it easier to detect patent
>infringement.  Insurers, group practices and health maintenance organizations,
>for example, often have sophisticated systems for gathering data on procedures
>used by doctors.  With medical practices increasingly being more businessy,
>it should be surprising, just like in software, that more patents are sought
>and awarded, and that patent infringement lawsuits become more common and
>more expensive to deal with.
>
>    I suppose those involved with medical computer devices now have two
>reasons not to get up in the morning :-)
>
>Greg Aharonian
>Internet Patent News Service
>(for subscription info, send 'help' to   patents@wo*.st*.co*)
>(for prior art search services info, send 'prior' to patents@wo*.st*.co*)
>
>

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