Gene-Splicing Patent

STANFORD. Calif.--The office of Technology Licensing at Stanford is optimistic that the United States Patent Office will reconsider and issue the university a paten for gene splicing and cloning techniques.

The technique under debate was the creation of Genetics Professor Stanley Cohen, and Herbert Hoyer, a biochemist from the University of California at San Francisco. In 1980 the Patent Office awarded them a patent for earlier work in gene cloning which has since brought $1.4 million to Stanford and UCSF.

If given, the patent would create revenue for Stanford that would be used for research and education. After 15 percent of the money is taken for administrative expenses, the remainder is divided evenly between the school, the department and Cohen, the Stanford Daily reported.