Can someone use DNA samples that were scattered by their owners for commercial purposes?
<p>Artist <a href="http://deweyhagborg.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Heather Dewey-Hagborg</a> has collected DNA samples from cigarette butts and chewing-gums found on the floor <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/04/tech/innovation/dna-face-sculptures/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">to create realistic portraits of their former owners</a>.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Eb78H.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Eb78H.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>I find this project fascinating, and although there are still some caveats in the likenesses and the technology behind it, it opens doors to several questions about ethics and the age-old race between technology and laws.</p>

<p>Mostly, is this "discarded DNA" still "owned" by their owners after they flick it to the floor? (I am assuming that our DNA code belongs to us...)</p>

<p>Trash is public property, see <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13041911802998096692" rel="noreferrer">here</a> for example: "The abandonment of property is the relinquishing of all title, possession, or claim to or of it". I think the assumption that a DNA code "belongs to you" is legally questionable. If you don't abandon it, you can own specific molecules of DNA. The only way to legally control replication of that pattern (garnerd via trash picking) would be via copyright or patent. But natually occurring DNA cannot be patented (<a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/569/12-398/" rel="noreferrer">Assoc. for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.</a>). As a natural fact, it is also not subject to copyright.</p>

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