AMP v. USPTO Oral Arguments

This just in from the Patent Doc Blog.  The Myriad case approaches a conclusion with more inapt analogies and possible unforeseen consequences. 

Baseball bats from wood? A statue of David from marble? Cutting branches and roots from a tree (while simultaneously producing the trunk with a laser)? Discovering Penicillin G? Extracting coal from rock? Mining uranium? Buying transformed cells off the shelf?  The Magic Microscope test? E=mc2? Patenting electrons, quarks or Higgs bosons? I guess lawyers and judges don't need to make sense when they play together.

Apparently, that's how we plan to assess whether an isolated (and synthetic) DNA sequence of the BRCA oncogene used in a diagnostic test will be ruled patent eligible or ineligible.  And, perhaps most scary will be used as the means of establishing a broader rule for assessing patent eligibility. I guess we hold our breath until the Court delivers its decision.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Jul 24th 2012.

Comments

[bigredbruce]

Here is an op-ed piece from Xconomy addressing some of the issues/concern presented by Myriad and Mayo.
http://www.xconomy.com/national/2012/08/07/mayo-and-myriad-can-two-patent-rulings-chill-biotech-innovation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mayo-and-myriad-can-two-patent-rulings-chill-biotech-innovation