Venter also wanted to patent the whole human genome once he'd sequenced it. It was only by a huge and expensive effort by the Wellcome charity that the genome w

Venter also wanted to patent the whole human genome once he'd sequenced it. It was only by a huge and expensive effort by the Wellcome charity that the genome was sequenced and made freely available Not only Wellcome (although their Sanger Centre was a major player), but a whole worldwide bucket of public money. It also bears mentioning too that on March 14, 2000 Bill Clinton and Tony Blair issued a joint statement saying that the results of genomic sequencing shouldn't be patented. The biotech sector lost $40bn in value as a result[1], as it became evident the patent business model was dead. [1]http://books.google.com/books?id=FOk3LE70l1EC&lpg=PA284&ots=CvGQ1E6YuC&dq=celera%20stock%20crash%20march%2014%202000&pg=PA284#v=onepage&q=celera%20stock%20crash%20march%2014%202000&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=FOk3LE70l1EC&lpg=PA284&...