After Prometheus, Are Human Genes Patentable Subject Matter?

Genes 101: Are Human Genes Patentable Subject Matter?

Are human genes patentable?

On 15 April 2013, the Supreme Court heard arguments to address the question, “Are human genes patentable?” and will deliver its ruling by the end of June. This will conclude a lawsuit that was filed on 12 May 2009, in the Federal District Court for Southern New York, Judge Robert Sweet presiding (1). The case centers on patents underlying genetic testing for inherited risk for breast and ovaria...

Patentable subject matter, TRIPS and the European Biotechnology Directive: Australia and patenting human genes.

This paper maintains that the word ‘inventions’ in art 27.1 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 19941 (‘TRIPS’) imposes an obligation on member countries to ensure that the subject matter of a patent application be scrutinised and not presumed. Article 27.1 of TRIPS provides that ‘[p]atents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processe...

3d Molecular Structures: Patentable Subject Matter under 35 U.s.c. § 101?

With the advent of protein engineering, the determination of a protein’s 3D structure has taken on a whole new importance. This has prompted some to call for the United States Patent and Trademark Office [USPTO] to break with tradition and allow patents on the three-dimensional structural information of proteins. This iBrief will discuss whether such information would constitute patentable subj...

The Federal Circuit's decision in Myriad: isolated DNA molecules are patentable subject matter.