by M. Andrea Ryan

About the author: M. Andrea Ryan is vice president of the Warner-Lambert Company, a drug company, and president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).

Mr. Chairman:

The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) congratulates you and the Subcommittee for holding this oversight hearing on the relationship between the human genome and the United States patent system. We are particularly pleased to have the opportunity to offer our thoughts on this very timely and important subject.

The AIPLA is a national bar association whose more than 10,000 members are primarily lawyers in private and corporate practice, in government service, and in the academic community. The AIPLA represents a wide and diverse spectrum of individuals, companies, and institutions involved directly or indirectly in the practice of patent, trademark, copyright and unfair...