&gt; I&#x27;m still not convinced that this form of protectionism is the only avenue to innovation.<p>Protections of inventions (as loose as the term &quot;invention&quot; might be) isn&#x27;t the only avenue to innovation, but it is <i>an</i> avenue.<p>There is always going to be a pull between free&#x2F;open and paid&#x2F;private.  It&#x27;s a good thing that multiple avenues exist, because some public-good innovations may happen under one regime but not the other.<p>Also, I take issue with the terms of the &quot;it should be free&quot; conversation here.  The patent isn&#x27;t for the gene: the company does not hold the rights to your DNA.  The patent is for the discovery of it&#x27;s link to cancer.<p>In this exact circumstance, I question how long it would take for this gene to be identified as a causal-link to breast cancer if there was not the bait of a financial windfall.  Is there a smoking gun that shows this company beat out a public institution to this discovery?