Everything is simpler in the comic books. Consider dominion of the world’s oceans. In both Marvel and DC comics, the sunken city of Atlantis (a public domain concept, after all) serves as a capital city for the seven seas. Namor typically sits on the Marvel Atlantean throne (in the upcoming Black Panther film, Namor will hail from TlÄlÅcÄn instead), vigorously defending the interests of the oceans and meeting all surface-dwelling challengers with a hearty “Imperius Rex!” His opposite number at the Distinguished Competition, Aquaman, is less aggressive and less inclined to assert any royal prerogative, but there’s still no question who oversees the seas. Here in the real world, however, most of the ocean belongs to no one. And so we face an open question: who owns the information contained in millions of aquatic genomes?
