Via LLRX.com – On the Legal Importance of Viewing Genes as Code – On June 13, 2013 the Supreme Court issued its opinion in the much–awaited Myriad case, which challenged the validity of patents on isolated human genes. The Court held that the isolated genetic sequences claimed in Myriad’s patents did not satisfy the inventive threshold for patentability, although the complementary DNA (cDNA) claimed in the patents did. Prof. Annemarie Bridy examines critical elements of the case with a focus on the extent to which the outcome turned on a single conceptual choice: When assessing patentability, should the legal analysis focus on the isolated DNA’s chemical structure or its information-coding function?

• See also Academic Scientists Hail Supreme Court’s Rejection of Gene Patents: “By some estimates, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patents covering about 20 percent of the human genome, a trend that federal health officials have called a threat to the development of genetic testing and advances in personalized medicine.”