Human Embryos, Patents, and the Thirteenth Amendment

The idea of patenting human life is relatively new and there is no general agreement on whether laws prevent the patenting of humanembryo inventions. The United States Constitution grants Congress the power “To Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” From this constitutional grant of authority, Congress established the Patent Act of 1790, creating a patent system for the purpose of promoting the innovation and commercialization of new technologies. Even more recently, Congress passed the 1952 Patent Act in an effort to strengthen the patent system. Essentially, a patent gives its holder the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the patented invention. The right to exclude, however, should not be confused with the right to practice the invention. In fact, a patent holder can only practice, i.e., make, use, or sell, the patented invention, if other patents do not exist regarding the same subject matter and if there is no federal or state regulation preventing the