The Patent Doc blog reports that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Public Patent Foundation (PubPat) have filed a certiorari petition with the Supreme Court in connection with two issues connected to the AMP v USPTO (Myriad) case.
The two issues at question?
- Are human genes patentable?
- Did the court of appeals err in ruling that petitioners who have been indisputably deterred by Myriad's "active enforcement" of its patent rights still lack standing to challenge those patents if they haven't been personally and directly threatened with an infringement action?
The Patent blog writers say that "it is clear that plaintiffs (ACLU and PubPat) are interested in not only reducing the scope of patent eligibility (no genes) but in expanding the scope of declaratory judgment jurisdiction, so that members of the public affected by a patent but not threatened by suit would have standing."
The authors continue, "In many ways, this argument is much more threatening to an effective patent regime in this country, since garnering Supreme Court agreement would make the recent spate of patent litigation look benign. For example, if every consumer who purchases a patented product had standing to challenge the patent."
I'll be following this thorugh the Patent Doc blog and suggest you do the same if interested in this case and its implications.
Posted by Bruce Lehr Dec 12th 2011.
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