SCOTUS Myriad Genetics decision a significant shift from status quo
In the Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics
decision, the Supreme Court unanimously held that naturally occurring
DNA sequences are “products of nature” and therefore cannot be patented.
“The Court’s holding represents a significant shift form the status quo,” says Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “It reverses both the lower court and twenty years of precedent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Are human genes patentable?
On April 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument
in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, a case that
could answer the question, “Under what conditions, if any, are isolated
human genes patentable?” Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert
and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, believes
that layered uncertainties make this case an unusually difficult case in
which to predict the outcome.