According to Discover magazine, last year, Craig Venter and his colleagues inscribed a passage from James Joyce into the genome of a synthetic microbe. Apparently, after the microbe hit, the Joyce estate sent Venter a cease and desist letter, claiming Venter should have asked permission first.
A New Frontier in Copyright Infringement
Brian Spears
Brian Spears is Senior Poetry Editor of The Rumpus and the author of A Witness in Exile (Louisiana Literature Press, 2011). His poem “Upon Reading That Andromeda Will One Day Devour Triangulum and Come For Us Next” was featured in Season 9 of Motion Poems.