Roche owns most, if not all, of the patents for PCR. Although some of
the
patents have been in litigation for the past year or two, I believe that
Roche
is still collecting royalties from those labs that continue to use the
technique. When I worked for a clinical lab that was using "homebred"
PCR
protocols we had to pay a royalty to Roche even though we were not using
their
kits and reagents..
I'm not a legal authority, and I encourage you to consult one (i.e., if
you
belong to an academic institution you should talk to your institution's
legal
counsel), but I would expect that you would have to obtain the license
and pay
the royalty.
nobody at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk, [mailto:nobody at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk], On, Behalf, Of
wrote:
> Can someone tell me if the PCR technique (?? taq-polymerase) can be
> used in a plant disease diagnostic lab at a university without a
> liscense?
>> Thanks,
> Brian
>> ---
