Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Gene Patents Fall Again

Hot on the heels of the Myriad decision by the Supreme Court, several companies started performing the tests which Myriad claimed were proprietary, patented processes.
In short order Myriad sued several of them, including Ambry Genetics.
The trial court in the case of Myriad against Ambry held the patents invalid.
Myriad appealed that decision to the high patent court, the Court of Appeals For the Federal Circuit.
Here is the decision of the high patent court slapping down Myriad again.
This is a wonderful turn of events.  For more information, see the previous post

The Empire Loses Again

Today in “Myriad II”, or "The Empire Strikes Back" about the BRCA1- and BRCA2-based Breast Cancer Test Patent Litigation__ F.3d __ (Fed. Cir. 2014)(Dyk, J.), the panel unanimously affirmed trial court conclusions of invalidity on the basis of lack of patent eligibility under 35 USC § 101.

This is an appeal from the District Court case we reported earlier.
I am startled, but gratified, by this unexpected outcome.