Tag Archives: Intervet

Now that the Supreme Court has issued its unanimous decision reversing the Federal Circuit decision in Prometheus, it is expected to decide the petition for certiorari in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. (the ACLU ”gene patenting”/BRCAI case), as early as Monday (March 26). Many are predicting that the Court will issue a “GVR” to grant certiorari only to vacate the Federal Circuit decision that upheld the patent-eligibility of Myriad’s “isolated DNA” claims, and remand the case to the Federal Circuit for rehearing in view of Prometheus. As I try to understand how the Supreme Court’s decision that Prometheus’ method claims do not satisfy 35 § USC 101 because they “effectively claim underlying laws of nature” would impact the Federal Circuit’s decision that Myriad’s isolated DNA claims satisfy 35 § USC 101 because they “cover molecules that are markedly different—have a distinctive chemical identity and nature—from molecules that exist in nature,” I am frightened by a line of reasoning that could undermine the patent-eligibility of a host of pharmaceutical and biological products.  Continue reading this entry