The headline is quite misleading. From the post, the patent appears to be about calculating and showing the traits children are likely to inherit from their parents, not a way to "design" them.
> The company never pursued the concepts discussed in the patent beyond our Family Traits Inheritance Calculator, nor do we have any plans to do so.<p>Isn't this a direct violation of the principles of patents? A patent gives you protection to work on an invention, so that you have a monopoly to sell that invention and thus cover the costs of developing it. But here they have the patent, thus preventing anyone else selling the invention, but they are not selling the invention themselves.<p>I'm interested about law. (Not saying this is relevant to 23&me.) Can you patent a process for an illegal action? So, a business process that enables tax evasion (not avoidance)?
In the future the opposite sex will not only judge us on look and wealth but also on genetic material. We're leaving DNA traces everywhere. Once the DNA samplers become small enough it's just a matter of time before an "app" that does that exists. Welcome to the future :)
I like the little image that seems to say: "Looking to start a family? Beware, your child might be a redhead! Calculate your risk now!"<p>(Please, if someone with red hair reads this, no offense :-))
Has anyone used the 23andMe service? I'd like to know how accurate the results are.<p>Can they say you definitely carry a gene for diabetes or lactose intolerance, for example, or do they just say you're at a higher chance of developing this? The website example given for carrier diseases looks so vague it's not worth bothering with ("You are a carrier of one or more infected conditions"... great, which ones!)<p>If they can give me a list of things I need to be mindful of in the future and, more importantly, why, I'd happily pay $99 for that. I.e; you've got this and that gene which leaves you susceptible to this condition which may lead to heart disease, etc. and we're %xx certain.<p>Does anyone have any experience of this kind of thing?
So they applied statistics to information about genes and received patent on it? I can get someone else than 23andMe analyze my genes, and he can do similar analysis.<p>I really like 23andMe's product, although I dont like the idea of my genetic information being stored outside my country (different than US).<p>I hope the patent itself isn't as broad as they are painting it, statistical methods (algorithms) should never be a part of patent - they are too generic and based on mathematics.
Btw why is everyone going on about genetic engineered kids? This company only lets you get your genetic data and the potential genetic make up of your offspring. It doesn't exactly let you HAVE a baby with those genetic traits. Or am i missing something?