Aggregated News

Petitioners challenging the patent eligibility of isolated DNA filed a reply brief Jan. 20, rejecting the respondent patent owner's call for the U.S. Supreme Court to deny review of the case for lack of standing (Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics Inc., U.S., No. 11-725, reply filed 1/20/12).

The reply brief, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation, argued that Myriad Genetics Inc. failed to inform the high court that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had already rejected the standing challenge.

Nine briefs were filed by friends of the court urging the high court to take the case. These amicus briefs focused on the merits of the case, arguing that allowing patents on genetic materials is bad public policy.

The Supreme Court will consider the petition at its Feb. 17 conference and may decide on Feb. 20 whether to accept the case for review.

Section 101 Holdings by Split Court

The case involves a 2009 declaratory judgment challenge initiated by the ACLU and PUBPAT against patents (5,747,282; 5,837,492; 5,693,473; 5,709,999...