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ARTICLE · 01 MAY 2019

Lessons Learned From 23andme Inc. v. Ancestry.Com

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
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Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

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The current trajectory of innovation is resulting in the convergence of biological and electronic discoveries into hybrid technologies that incorporate aspects of both scientific disciplines.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Aaron Capron
Aaron Capron
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The current trajectory of innovation is resulting in the convergence of biological and electronic discoveries into hybrid technologies that incorporate aspects of both scientific disciplines. Wearables replete with biological sensors and analysis as well as the use of complex electronics, software, and algorithms in biological sciences are just some examples of these hybrid inventions. As these types of technologies become more and more prevalent, consideration of how patent protection applies to them becomes increasingly important, particularly with developing application-drafting strategies to best protect them.

United States patent law allows inventors to patent "any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof."1 Inventions must overcome this preliminary threshold, referred to as statutory subject matter eligibility, to even be considered for potential patent protection. Throughout the years,

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