Computational Biology and Intellectual Property Rights: A Need of the Hour

Abstract

The possibility of the discovery of drugs and cures based on genetic studies that may have the potential to treat diseases hereto considered incurable, has meant an investment of huge amounts in research and development of bioinformatics tools of a more sophisticated, nature which would aid in the field of comparative genomics and such. In this scenario, there has already been a copious amount of funding into research and development of bioinformatics tools and applications, by both public and private institutions. It is only natural to expect some form of a legal framework of protection for the innovations in terms of new bioinformatics tools, which would ensure a return on the investments secured from marauding interests. This is the argument for the application of IPR to the field of bioinformatics, at the most basic level. This paper analyses and makes a case for the protection of this research and investment that would have been pumped into the very wide and extensive areas of research that are associated with bioinformatics.