Robin Stocks on Carob has a long and interesting entry on the rumour that it was a translator’s error, hinging on the difference between German Tier and English animal, that led to a patent being granting for cloning humans.

It wasn’t. Carob links to the patent and sets out the history. The patent application will have been in English in any case, and it contained an explicit reference to human cells. It is excellent to have the whole thing researched and set out here. The entry concludes:

bq. In July 2002, the EPO limited the Edinburgh patent. It now no longer includes human or animal embryonic stem cells, but still covers modified human and animal stem cells other than embryonic stem cells.