US District Court Says No To Patenting Human Genes
In a move that could significantly alter the future of genetic medicine and the industry around it, a US District Court judge invalidated seven patents for human genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer, on the grounds that genes are discovered, not created. The ruling opens up challenges against the patents held by numerous companies on thousands of human genes, and jeopardizes an industry business model based on exclusive rights to gene treatment. The case, Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al., reverses decades of rulings, including a 1980 Supreme Court decision upholding the patenting of artificial bacteria. In his opinion, Judge Robert Sweet decided that naturally occurring isolated genes are not legally distinct from entire genomes, which are protected from patent by law. Judge Sweet even went as far as calling the reasoning that deemed isolated genes legally distinct from entire genomes...