In December 2008, online personal genomics start-up 23andMe quietly filed a patent for "gamete donor selection", a technology allowing subscribers of their direct-to-consumer genetic testing service to select a sperm or egg donor based upon the incumbent parent’s desired traits (1).
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The patent describes 23andMe's invention as a "technique" designed to provide gamete recipients with "more informed choices" (1).
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Founded in 2006 by Linda Avey, Paul Cusenza and Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe claimed no interest in developing concepts beyond their Family Traits Inheritance Calculator, a service offered to subscribers that comparatively analyzed DNA samples to aid in the selection of preferred donors.
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Whereas sperm banks utilized preconception screenings to account for typical features such as medical history and ethnic origin, 23andMe’s technology endeavored to broaden the range of selected traits to account for specified personality characteristics such as propensity for humor and physical stamina (2).
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In October of 2013, following the Supreme Court’s decision in June of that year to strike down human gene patents, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded 23andMe patent #8,543,339, giving the company unprecedented “exclusive rights” to gamete donor selection technology.
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The ethical implications regarding such technology had, until that point, only been theoretical.
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US8543339B2 - Gamete Donor Selection Based on Genetic Calculations.” Google Patents, Google, patents.google.com/patent/US8543339B2/en.
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Sterckx, S., Cockbain, J., Howard, H., Borry, P. “‘I prefer a child with…': designer babies, another controversial patent in the arena of direct-to-consumer genomics.” Genetics in Medicine, vol. 15, no. 12, 2013, pp. 923-924.
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Johnathan Pilkington