Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 23 FEBRUARY 2014

No Patent For You

Morrison Foerster
Morrison Foerster
Contributor
Morrison Foerster

Morrison Foerster

With approximately 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices, Morrison & Foerster is a preeminent global law firm...

View firm profile
Explore more from Morrison Foerster

After years of issuing rulings limiting what can be patented, the Supreme Court turned its attention squarely toward patent eligibility in the life sciences and technology fields.

United StatesIntellectual Property

Patent eligibility restrictions hit life sciences and tech

After years of issuing rulings limiting what can be patented, the Supreme Court turned its attention squarely toward patent eligibility in the life sciences and technology fields.

Overturning a 30-year practice by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office of awarding patents on isolated DNA sequences, the court in June declared that Myriad Genetics' patents on two human genes linked to a higher risk of breast cancer were invalid.  That decision came on the heels of a 2012 ruling that a certain personalized medicine test for determining proper drug dosages was a patent-ineligible "law of nature."  Just two years earlier, the court affirmed the rejection of a method patent application on a process for hedging losses in the energy industry.

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

See more popular content from