"In a unanimous decision (yes, all the justices agreed on something!), the court ruled that Myriad did not have a right to patent the simple act of discovering something occurring in nature (I see it! It’s mine!), or to patent naturally occurring things (no, you cannot patent oxygen). In the opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas (wait, he writes?), they ruled that “Myriad’s principal contribution was uncovering the precise location and genetic sequence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Myriad did not create or alter either the genetic information encoded in the BCRA1 and BCRA2 genes or the genetic structure of the DNA. It found an important and useful gene, but groundbreaking, innovative, or even brilliant discovery does not by itself satisfy” the requirements of patentability. As for the synthetic copy, or cDNA, the justices agreed that Myriad had, in fact, created a product not of nature. The lab technician removed part of the molecular structure that, while still dictated by nature, does not naturally occur in nature and, is therefore, patentable."
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:39:43 +0000
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