■Boy lor College of Medicine 
DEPARTMENT OF VIROLOGY AND EPIDEMIOLOGY • 713 790-4443 
September 23, 1976 
Dr. Donald S. Frederickson 
Director 
Public Health Service 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Don: 
This is in response to your letter of September 8 on patent policy 
in the area of Recombinant DNA research. 
There must be one overriding principal for the next few years: 
safety. This means that at this stage of our ignorance, new infor- 
mation must be quickly circulated to all engaged in such research 
without any delay because of patent considerations. 
As regards the patent options you mention, number (4) is the one 
I favor. Even though a formal patent has not been applied for, the 
availability of laboratory notebooks recording the details of experi- 
ments, of who performed them and when, should be enough to estab- 
lish priority for patent purposes. The inventor would have ample 
time (one year from the time of dissemination of knowledge of the 
invention) to prepare and file the U. S. patent. Although, I am told, 
there is some movement towards standardizing international patents, 
this will take some time. In any case, I would not let filing of foreign 
patents hamper the free and rapid flow of information in this important 
area at this crucial time. 
Another consideration is to allow the inventor, if he wishes, to 
file his application in foreign countries at the same time he disseminates 
his material publicly. To do this he and his lawyers would probably 
have to burn the midnight oil, but, after all, there is no requirement 
that the research findings must be patented. 
Sincerely yours, 
Joseph L. Melnick 
Distinguished Service Professor 
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