06/13/2013
"Supreme Court Says Human Genes Aren’t Patentable,” reads a June 13 headline on the Wall Street Journal website. The case considered Myriad Genetics, Inc., and its holding of patents related to two genes (BRCA 1 and BRCA 2) that can be used to assess certain cancer risks in women.
The justices’ opinion reads:
Held: A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring.