Biotechnology in the Federal Circuit: a Clockwork Lemon

In this short presentation I will attempt to accomplish a couple of different goals. First, I will discuss a series of recent cases that set out the doctrine for biotechnology patenting. Judge Lourie of the Federal Circuit has written most of the opinions, and recently one or two other judges have joined in. Looking at these cases is much like looking at a wonderful machine, as the cases progress in a very deterministic and Euclidean manner. Judge Lourie and, to some extent, his colleagues started out with some axiomatic propositions about patent law and biotechnology. They then worked in a syllogistic manner to reach a number of conclusions. Consequently, the case law forms a very intellectually beautiful, very internally consistent, very precise framework for thinking about biotechnology patents in the Federal Circuit.