It is 2058 and Wilma Gates I is in trouble with the authorities.
Her company, Wingene, stands accused of monopolising the worldwide market in human genome designs - the bioengineering templates used by prospective parents to modify their children's genetic makeup prior to conception.
The phenomenal success of Wingene over the past decade has led to the company achieving an estimated 90% share of the human genome design marketplace. As a result, at least 25m children born each year to many of the world's wealthiest parents are destined to pay design royalties on their own bodies to Gates' company for their entire lives.
Biotech upstart
Wingene is in trouble for allegedly attempting to squeeze upstart rival Genorama out of the market. The new biotech kid on the block burst on the scene in 2055 with an innovative template system which allowed parents to pick genetic features from a variety of sources rather than the all-or-nothing, one-stop-shop model favoured by Wingene.
Parents flocked to the Genorama system primarily because it gave them much more choice when specifying their children's facial features and body shape, even though most continued to use Wingene for the underlying tissue and bone structure.
Wingene was quick to respond by building similar technology into its own template model free of charge, arguing that the face was a part of the human body and thus a natural extension of its existing product. But the authorities agreed with Genorama's complaints that this constituted anti-competitive behaviour, and filed suit.
Gates is expected to testify that Wingene's market dominance is attributable solely to the inherent technical excellence and popular appeal of its proprietary human genome design. Wingene is recognised as a skilful marketing operation, whose advertising slogan, "Born to win", pays homage to Darwin's doctrine of survival of the fittest.
Natural selection
Gates may also argue that Wingene cannot be regarded as having a monopoly on the human body as long as a majority of the population continue to opt for natural selection. Critics point out, however, that most people do so simply because they cannot afford the Wingene treatment. They claim competition is needed to drive prices down.
A minority of detractors go on to describe alleged flaws in the Wingene design that make people created in its image behave unpredictably or even collapse in harsh or stressful environments. Wingene, however, strenuously denies the existence of such problems, blaming any breakdowns on poor or careless parental handling.
Gates, herself the parent of genetically-modified identical twins aged 5 and 7, discourages comparisons to her great-uncle Bill Gates, who faced anti-trust investigations as boss of the computer software company Microsoft during its brief rise to notoriety in the late 20th century. "Our opponents are weaker [than those he faced]," she told reporters. "They won't stop Wingene."
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