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A taxidermied white sheep on display in a glass case.
Dolly the Sheep in the National Museum of Scotland. (Image: Sgerbic).

Patents are submitted for the first cloned animal, Dolly the sheep.

1996

The Story of The Patenting of Life
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Dolly the Sheep in the National Museum of Scotland. (Image: Sgerbic).

The research institute in Scotland that cloned Dolly, a sheep, begin to fight for their right to own a patent for the method of cloning itself, called somatic cell nuclear transfer. They also submit a patent for all life created as a result of the somatic cell nuclear transfer process. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office turn down the second application, citing a federal law that denies patents for anything that occurs through the “laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas.” This will be confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2014.