Dorsey. Windhorst, Hannaford, Whitney & Halladay 
2 3 0 0 FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING 
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 55-402 
(612) 3-40-2600 
cable: dorow 
telex: 29-0605 
TELECOPIER: (612) 340-2060 
October 13, 1976 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
Dept, of Health, Education & Welfare 
Public Health Service 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland - 20014 
Re: Our File No. 230605-0 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
This is in response to your September letter 
asking for my views on the question of patent applications 
in the area of recombinant DNA research. I apologize for 
not having answered sooner, but the press of other business 
and several out-of-town trips have prevented me from ade- 
quately focusing on the questions raised in your very 
thoughtful letter. I have at last had time to give the 
consideration to the problems raised which your letter 
seemed to indicate. As a result, I have come to the con- 
clusion that the best policy for the Department to follow 
is to continue its current policy which encompasses the use 
of an institutional patent agreement of the type set forth 
in your letter. 
The reasons that I have reached such conclusion 
may be summarized somewhat as follows: 
1) I am a firm believer in the free enterprise system, 
an essential element of which is the U.S. patent system. I 
understand that U.S. patents are issuable in connection with 
all inventions except those in certain areas primarily in- 
volving atomic energy and the space program. I do not know 
all of the reasons why patents were prohibited in such areas. 
However, to the extent such prohibition was based upon the 
desire, through secrecy, to prevent the proliferation of de- 
vices extremely dangerous to mankind, such policy has been 
signularly unsuccessful. Based upon such experience, I feel 
sure that the results of recombinant DNA research will be- 
come available to the public and be available for "bad" as 
well as "good" purposes. Therefore, I see no reason to 
adopt a policy designed to ■ discourage the issuance of pa- 
tents resulting from such research. 
1460 W-FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING 
ST. PAUL. MINNESOTA 55101 
(612) 227-0017 
116 THIRD STREET SOUTHWEST 
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA 55901 
(507) 200-3156 
JULE M. HANNAFORD 
(612) 340 - 2730 
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