Jorge Contreras - Presidential Scholar & Professor of Law | Who Owns Your DNA?

Jorge L. Contreras is an American legal scholar and attorney who is recognized as a leading global authority on intellectual property law, technical standardization, and the law and policy of human genomics.Contreras currently holds the rank of Presidential Scholar and Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He also serves as a Senior Policy Fellow at the American University Washington College of Law. He has held prior academic appointments at American University Washington College of Law (2011-13) and Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (2010-11).

➡️ Talking Points

00:00 — Intro

02:42 — Jorge Contreras's origin story

04:09 — Jorge Contreras’s legal background

06:23 — A brief background on patents

08:05 — Can DNA be patented?

11:38 — How can someone patent something that is not man-made?

15:40 — First individual that tried to patent a human gene

16:28 — Why did it take so long for patenting a human gene to be contested?

18:55 — Is patenting a human gene a massive social problem?

26:16 — What was the controversy with the Obama administration regarding this topic?

31:21 — What was the actual outcome of this case?

35:33 — Is there any provision that allows people to study a patented gene?

36:50 — Is Covid directly related to the outcomes of this case?

40:02 — Where does the biotech industry stand on this decision?

42:57 — Will patents like this be a benefit to society?

47:46 — What does Jorge think about patent culture in the future?

51:02 — Where do people connect wIth Jorge Contreras?

53:20 — The biggest challenge of Jorge Contreras's career

55:40 — Who is the mentor of Jorge Contreras

57:50 — A book or a podcast recommendation by Jorge Contreras

59:25 — What would Jorge tell his 20-year-old self?

1:00:10 — What does success mean to Jorge Contreras?