SARS genome patent: symptom or disease?

In addition to straining public-health administrations, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is testing out the patent system. Recent news1 that researchers in the USA, Canada, and Hong Kong have applied for patents covering the SARS genome illustrates how the patent system is still not yet ready for the breakout of genomic patent claims. In particular, the news demonstrates that the patent system needs to be adjusted—not discarded—by governments to better reach the goal of that system: the attainment of the public good.