Myriad Case Decided

A decision in the  "Myriad Case" has  the biotechnology community, intellectual property attorneys  and investors breathing a sign of relief.  A US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday, July 29, that US patent law allows for the patenting of human genes.  The court overturned an earlier district court decision that patents claiming diagnostic tests based "isolated" human genes were invalid. The Federal court held that "analyzing or comparing method claims" were invalid in light of other recent case law including Prometheus v. Mayo and Bilski v. Kappos.  This strongly suggests that patent holders work with their outside counsel to  review pending and granted diagnostic method claims in light of these decisions.
Here are a few good summaries:
Ruling Upholds Gene Patent in Cancer Test   New York Times
Appeals Court Decides Isolated DNA Patentable, Myriad Analytical Claims Not  Genome Web


Debbie