Fritz Machlup, an economist, once said that if we didn't have a patent system it would be irresponsible to recommend one, but since we have one, it would be irresponsible to abolish it. An Economic Review of the Patent...more
12/20/2013
/ Bayh-Dole Act ,
BRCA ,
GATT ,
Inventors ,
Licenses ,
Myriad ,
Patent Reform ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prior Art ,
Royalties ,
Technology ,
Universities ,
WTO
Last Wednesday, Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California granted summary judgment to declaratory judgment plaintiff Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. in Ariosa Diagnostics v. Sequenom. The legal basis of the court's...more
After a brief hiatus that saw Counsyl and Quest Diagnostics file declaratory judgment actions in alternate venues, Myriad has filed yet another lawsuit against a genetic diagnostics company that brought its own BRCA gene...more
One of the many untruthful positions taken by the ACLU in the AMP v. Myriad Genetics case was that DNA is merely information, like a computer program, and as such Myriad's patent claims were invalid as reciting...more
Last month, Ambry Genetics and Gene By Gene responded to Myriad's motion for preliminary injunction in a 109 page brief that sets out its invalidity case as well as the basis for its antitrust counterclaims. Supported by...more
The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a District Court decision denying a preliminary injunction to patentee Sequenom over the claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,258,540. While the Court rendered its decision based on...more
Asserts Affirmative Defenses and Antitrust Counterclaims and Asks for Declaratory Judgment -
On Monday Ambry filed its Answer to Myriad's complaint for patent infringement, and asserted patent misuse as an affirmative...more
8/8/2013
/ Ambry ,
AMP v Myriad ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
DNA ,
Genetic Materials ,
Human Genes ,
Myriad ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
USPTO
Earlier this month, Myriad Genetics filed patent infringement lawsuits against Ambry Genetics (on July 9th) and Gene-by-Gene (on July 10th). Filed with the complaint in the Ambry lawsuit was a Motion for Preliminary...more
The Supreme Court's decision in the Myriad case has been almost universally hailed as being a great victory for patients, doctors, personalized medicine, and research. Precluding patenting for "merely" isolated human DNA,...more
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously June 13, 2013 in favor of Plaintiffs/Petitioners in Association of Molecular Pathologists v. Myriad Genetics on the question of whether isolated DNA is patent eligible. The opinion found a...more
The Supreme Court rendered its opinion in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. ("the Myriad case"), and in many ways it was anticlimactic: the Court adopted the Department of Justice's position...more
Much has and will continue to be written about the Federal Circuit's en banc decision in CLS Bank Int'l v. Alice Corp. last week, and most of the commentary has and will be critical of the path the court took in arriving at...more
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. on Monday, and many have commented on the Court's interrogation of the parties' representatives (and the government)...more
With the U.S. Supreme Court set to consider the patent-eligibility of claims to isolated human DNA in AMP v. Myriad Genetics this morning, another aspect of Myriad’s control over BRCA testing technology is being contested. ...more
Much of the gene patenting debate has appeared, to experienced patent practitioners, to be akin to a conversation with Kevin Kline's character in A Fish Called Wanda, or perhaps a passage from P.G. Wodehouse's The Luck of the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. on April15th, and the parties and their different cadres of amici have submitted briefs of varying degrees of...more
In an amicus brief filed last week in support of respondents Myriad Genetics, Inc. et al., the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) asked the Supreme Court to affirm the Federal Circuit's decision in Association for...more
There is a great cultural divide that has been illuminated by the Myriad case (AMP v. Myriad Genetics), between producers of technology and its consumers, governments and non-government organizations such as patient groups...more
Myriad Genetics filed its responsive brief with the Supreme Court last Thursday in AMP v. Myriad Genetics ("the Myriad case"). It is a certainly a serviceable brief that makes the patent law arguments that need to be made...more
The Supreme Court's grant of certiorari over the question "Are human genes patentable" had raised for many the specter of an uninformed generalist court rendering a decision containing dicta that would negatively affect...more
Unlike dog breeds that tend to be of ancient vintage (Labra-doodles and Yorkie-poos to the contrary), many cat breeds are of relatively recent parentage. While there are many naturally occurring breeds (such as Maine Coons...more
In a decision that should surprise no one, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari today in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. The grant was limited to the first question presented, whether human...more
On Halloween, Myriad Genetics filed its brief in opposition to plaintiffs' petition for certiorari in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. (plaintiffs nominally being the Association for Molecular...more