Whose DNA anyway?

[fairdice]

Yesterday, a US District Court judge issued a ruling which invalidated the patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. The patent-holder, Myriad Genetics, sells genetic testing services that predict likelihoods of getting breast cancer: women with certain mutations in these genes have an 85% lifetime chance of getting breast cancer, unless they get

Comments

[ffoeg]

I would be significantly surprised if the Federal Circuit didn't overturn the decision -- they are fairly patent-friendly (of course) and are usually convinced by "transformation" arguments. We'll have to wait for the Supremes to weigh in, and until we see the decision in Bilski, we don't really know how Alito, Roberts, or Sotomayor feel about patent scope. Breyer for sure is going to try to kill gene patents.

[grr_plus1]

Hurrah! A good first step. Let's hope it's upheld.