Recent Developments

3/4/08: VICTORY! Rabbit patent rejected. In another major success for the campaign to stop animal patents, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has agreed with AAVS, the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation (ARDF), and the PatentWatch Project of the International Center for Technology Assessment that the patent on rabbits whose eyes have been purposefully damaged should be rescinded.

AAVS and ARDF President Sue Leary stated, "Animals are not machines or articles of manufacture. This success really highlights that the Patent Office should not be issuing patents on animals and should not be providing universities and corporations with incentives to harm animals for economic gain."

AAVS Executive director Tracie Letterman added, "We're pleased that the USPTO revoked this patent on scientific grounds, but sooner or later the USPTO will have to confront the fact that animal patents are neither legally valid nor morally acceptable. Even if we have to take it to the Supreme Court."

View Press Release.

8/10/07: Request for Reexamination granted. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to re-open its investigation of the rabbit patent.

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3/23/07: Request for Reexamination filed. On March 23, 2007, AAVS, in conjunction with the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation and the PatentWatch Project of the International Center for Technology Assessment, filed a Request for Reexamination to challenge the rabbit patent.

View Press Release and Action Alert.

5/27/04: VICTORY! The University of Texas has given up all rights to its patent on sickened beagle dogs. AAVS President Sue Leary stated, “This is a tremendous victory not just for the beagle dogs but for the 499 other animals who have been patented in the U.S. The University took the only morally defensible action it could in the face of our challenge. It got the message that animals are not machines, articles of manufacture, or inventors’ compositions of matter.”

AAVS Executive Director Tina Nelson added, “The swift decision of the University to drop all patent claims on sickened beagles demonstrates the patent’s weakness, both s cientifically and morally. This will be the first of many patents on animals that will crumble under public scrutiny when the truth is told.”

Patent on Beagle Dogs Cancelled