Appeals Court Says (Again) That Diagnostic Tests Are Patentable
from the supreme-court-please? dept
Last year, we wrote how a bunch of doctors were quite worried about an ongoing patent lawsuit, Prometheus Laboratories v. Mayo Collaborative Services. It involved a company, Prometheus, that claimed it could patent basic medial diagnostics, and basically said no one (such as the Mayo Clinic) could diagnose patients in the same way without paying Prometheus. The whole concept was abhorrent to many doctors. Yet, as we worried, last year the appeals court (CAFC), as it has done so often, sided with the patent holders. This summer, when the Supreme Court decided Bilski, one thing it asked CAFC to do was reconsider the Prometheus case. It’s now done so, and nothing much has changed. Once again, CAFC has said that basic diagnostic tests may be patentable. Many also think (probably correctly) that this is a good indication that CAFC will also reverse a lower court ruling in the Myriad Genetics case, concerning whether or not genes are patentable. If diagnostic tests are patentable, why not genes? Of course, all this really means is that sooner or later the Supreme Court is going to have to weigh in again, and hopefully it won’t punt the issue like it did in Bilski.
Filed Under: cafc, diagnostic tests, genes, patents, supreme court
Companies: mayo clinic, myriad genetics, prometheus labs
Comments on “Appeals Court Says (Again) That Diagnostic Tests Are Patentable”
Patent penis and vagina groping
I mean pat down. Then couldnt say…I patent a search procedure and make the TSA pay me for every boobie and sac groped?
Re: Patent penis and vagina groping
“That method is patented!”
“Oh, alright. We’ll grope your penis harder then, so we don’t infringe on your patent.”
Re: Re: Patent penis and vagina groping
“Groping harder (or softer) is an unauthorized derivative work. Pay up!!”
Re: Re: Patent penis and vagina groping
You’re further infringing my penis!
My body!
Looks like my right to determine how much 6-thioguanine is produced by my body is patented by Prometheus Laboratories.
How is that not obvious?
If a human gene is patented, does that mean carriers would have to pay for cell division?
Car Manufacturers
Car manufacturers will jump on this like flies on manure.
No more non-dealer mechanics, they can not afford the diagnostic procedure licenses.
No more backyard DIY mechanics, DHS/ICE might arrest them for infringing on patents of Government Motors when they replace that dead battery. You know, cause you can only determine if you need a new battery following the patented non-obvious GM procedure…….
No doubt that Prometheus Laboratories did not have to take the hippocratic oath.
People should start backyard medicine production.
What happens when all houses in America are producing some form of medicine?