Revive & Restore, a de-extinction organization in Sausalito, California, that is working toward reviving the passenger pigeon, says it doesn’t think the birds should be controlled by intellectual-property claims. “Revive & Restore will not be patenting de-extinct passenger pigeons,” says Elizabeth Bennett, a spokesperson for the organization. The organization envisions that if it succeeds in reintroducing the birds, they will be “protected under existing wildlife laws,” Bennett says.
Even some genetic engineers involved in the mammoth project, initiated more than decade ago at Harvard University, have mixed opinions on patenting de-extinct animals. Cory Smith, now a biotech executive, was a student when he helped prepare an earlier patent application on engineered elephants, which the school filed in 2021. “I am not sure it should have an owner,” says Smith. “I have always been on the side that maybe the animals shouldn’t be patented.”
During its press blitz last week, Colossal was careful not to reveal the exact genetic changes it had made to its wolves, telling advisors it needed to keep them secret for “intellectual-property reasons.” This prevented outside scientists from fully assessing the experiment. But it also would have also allowed Colossal to present the information to the patent office, since information already in the public domain can’t be patented.
In response to emailed questions, Lamm initially sought to avoid saying whether or not Colossal had filed for a patent covering the transgenic wolves, similar to the one on the “mammoth.” It’s a sensitive question, since such a patent would mean the canids are articles of commerce, not wild creatures returned to their “rightful place in the ecosystem,” as the company said last week.
“We take a thoughtful approach to intellectual property that balances scientific advancement with sustainable business practices,” Lamm said in his initial response. “What’s important to understand is that any IP protection would be limited to specific technical methods and innovations we’ve developed—not the genetic heritage of extinct species themselves. We see ourselves as stewards of this science rather than owners of these magnificent creatures.”
The pending mammoth patent paints a very different picture. First filed in 2023, it is titled “Woolly mammoth specific gene variants and compositions comprising same” and contains a list of 29 claims that seek to control both a long list of mammoth gene variants and animals whose bodies contain that genetic code.
