Research Discoveries After Kubin.

This paper will discuss commercializing discoveries made at research organizations, particularly with a view to the In re Kubin case, decided April 3, 2009, by the Federal Circuit. Here, the existence of a general method of isolating DNA molecules was held to be relevant to the question whether the DNA molecules themselves would have been obvious under § 103 of the patent act. How are DNA inventions patented anyway? What does it take for academic research to reach patients? How might the decision of In re Kubin effect research commercialization and technology transfer?