The Federal Circuit provided an undesirable reminder to The
University of Bern (and many other patent owners): a positive and
valuable contribution does not necessarily equate to patentable
subject matter.
Here, the Court looked at the university's patent, entitled
"Method of Determining the Genotype Relating to Hereditary
Nasal Parakeratosis (HNPK) and Nucleic Acids Usable in Said
Solution." The patent explained that HNPK is a recessive
condition that only passes to a puppy when both parents are
carriers of the gene that causes HNPK. Therefore, a test that
determines the three genotypes of "free,"
"carrier" and "affected" would be highly
valuable both for dog breeding and for veterinary medicine.
