If a company spends millions upon millions in R&D to come up with something that makes their customers dramatically more productive, I think it's fitting that they should be able to patent it and reap the rewards of their investment. That's how we encourage that kind of innovation - with the potential for massive windfalls. It works.

I do have a bit of wariness in the back of my mind about the long-term ramifications of setting the precedent that companies can own genetic patterns. I don't think anybody knows quite what the knock-on effects of that might be in twenty or thirty years... but I also don't know how we can protect and encourage this kind of innovation without granting those exclusive rights.