Using copyright to protect genetic sequences

This universality means that, with some exceptions, a given DNA sequence will have the same function even in different organisms. What’s more, the method that we currently use to ‘read’ this code from DNA will then produce the same symbolic output (corresponding to the same function) for any given organism from which it is taken. The method that we use to read DNA, called genetic or nucleotide sequencing, is therefore a window through which we can access a common format.