Eileen McDermott, New York
A US district court in late March invalidated seven patents on human genes, in part based on the Federal Circuit's ruling in In re Bilski. Judge Robert Sweet of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in a 152-page decision (Association for Molecular Pathology et al v USPTO and Myriad Genetics) that the US patents at issue are invalid.
The decision was a win for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) and their clients, which included a number of breast cancer and women's health groups, individual women, geneticists and scientific associations.
The disputed claims of the patents are associated with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and the genetic tests for ovarian and breast cancer linked to those genes. The patents are held by Myriad Genetics.
"The precedent-setting ruling marks the first time...