We have previously stated that the Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) may be used if, for example, for ethical reasons a patent does not wish to be obtained.
In his popular blog Patent Docs, blog-master Donald Zuhn,points out that the section of Title 35 that provides for Statutory Invention Registrations (§ 157) was repealed by § 3 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. The repeal of § 157, and resulting elimination of SIRs, becomes effective March 16, 2013. Thank you for pointing that out, Don. I suppose that a similar aim could be accomplished by publication of the patent for purposes of opposition and then disclaiming the claims. This is what happened in U.S. Patent No. US-6,444,872-B1, May 24, 2004, when the International Center for Technology Assessment opposed the University of Texas in its patent on a beagle whose immune system was compromised to facilitate the dog’s use in medical experiments.
See: http://www.icta.org/patent-watch/legal-actions-5/
and reported in my book, "Other Peoples Bodies."
