Remarks in Honor of the Legal and Public Policy Legacies of John Henry Merryman: Cultural Property and Human Cells

It is an honor to be invited to speak at this symposium, both for the kind invitation to address this society, and for the opportunity to honor an esteemed scholar from my alma mater, Stanford. I come to this symposium, not as an expert in cultural property, but as an inhabitant of the field of biotechnology and intellectual property law. Although the view from a distance can provide different perspectives, it lacks the layers of understanding and meaning that are accumulated by those who are steeped in the field. I cannot possibly hope to offer solutions to issues with which many brilliant minds have spent a lifetime grappling. Thus, I temper my comments with the caution appropriate for the exercise. What I can do is offer comparisons from the treatment of human cells, as well as observations I have suggested in that context. Copyright © 2014 International Cultural Property Society.