ASSOCIATION FOR MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY, et al., Petitioners v. MYRIAD GENETICS, INC., et al., 569 U.S. 576

Summary

The laboratory isolated genes mutations of which increased the risk of ovarian and breast cancer and synthetically created cDNA containing only the genetic code for amino acids, and the laboratory's patents granted the laboratory the exclusive rights to develop medical tests for detecting DNA mutations and assessing a patient's cancer risk. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a naturally occurring DNA segment was a product of nature and not patent eligible under 35 U.S.C.S. § 101 merely because it was isolated, but cDNA was patent eligible because it was not naturally occurring. In isolating the genes, the laboratory found important and useful genes but did not create or alter either the genetic information encoded in the genes or the genetic structure of the DNA, and the location and order of the genetic sequences existed in nature before the laboratory isolated them. However, cDNA which removed codes for anything other than amino acids was not a product of nature and was ...