<nettime> Woman Files Patent Application on Herself

["nettime's_roving_reporter" <nettime {AT} bbs.thing.net>]

<http://dailynews.netscape.com/news/OddlyEnough/02_29_2000.
 reodd-story-bcoddpatent.html>

Woman Files Patent Application on Herself 

LONDON (Reuters) - A British woman has become the first person to attempt
to patent herself, the national patent office said Tuesday.

``I can confirm that we have received an application with the title
'myself' from Donna Rawlinson MacLean,'' the patent office's Brian Caswell
said.

Britain's Guardian newspaper said MacLean, a poet and casino waitress from
Bristol in western England, was angered at the patenting of gene sequences
by businesses. 

``It has taken 30 years of hard labor for me to discover and invent
myself, and now I wish to protect my invention from unauthorized
exploitation, genetic or otherwise,'' Maclean told the newspaper. 

Caswell said the full details of application GB0000180.0 would be
published in 18 months. 

``It is not really worth patenting something unless you make a lot of
money from it,'' he added. 



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