Patent Baristas

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled against Myriad Genetics saying that the company cannot patent natural DNA.  Association for Molecular Pathology et al., v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., et al.  (SCt 12-398_8njq; No. 12–398, June 13, 2013). The District Court concluded that Myriad’s claims were invalid because they covered products of nature. The Federal Circuit […]

The question of to what extent genes are patentable will be argued before the Supreme Court on April 15. The Supreme Court’s decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics may finally settle a long-standing controversy. This whole brouhaha has to do with U.S. Patent Nos. 5,747,282; 5,837,492; 5,693,473; 5,709,999; 5,710,001; 5,753,441; 6,033,857.  The composition claims […]

As you know, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Mayo v. Prometheus, an important intellectual property case for biotech.  The Court held that the correlation between blood test results and patient health is not patentable. Under Prometheus, new patents involving correlations between natural phenomena must do more than simply recite the natural correlation and then […]

In the on-going saga of the patentability of correlations between blood test results and patient health, Prometheus Laboratories submitted its brief to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Court granted cert for the second time in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Labs., Inc, Supreme Court No. 10-1150, to consider whether to set limits on when inventors […]

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that Stanford University can’t win its patent infringement case against Roche Molecular Systems because Roche holds an ownership interest in the patents. Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., et al., Supreme Court of the United States, 563 U. S. ____ (2011). […]

In a paper published by the Washington Legal Foundation, entitled Supreme Court To Address Standard For Induced Patent Infringement, Brian Pandya of Wiley Rein LLP present an examination of Global-Tech Appliances Inc. v. SEB, S.A. The U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral argument in the case today. The Supreme Court has ruled in nine patent […]

The Supreme Court issued GVR Orders* on two important biotech cases: Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. v. Biogen IDEC et al. (08-1509) The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for further consideration in light of […]

This morning, the Supreme Court issued its long awaited opinion in Bilski v. Kappos, a case which dealt with whether new processes were patentable only if they were performed with a specific machine, or resulted in a physical transformation of some article. In the run up to the decision, many commentators had predicted that the Court […]