SAN FRANCISCO The U.S. Supreme Court is going to have the last word on whether human genes can be patented. That’s going to make civil libertarians happy and the personalized medicine industry queasy.
The high court granted certiorari Friday in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, on the specific question, “Are human genes patentable?” Given the court had already asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reconsider the question, and the Federal Circuit had stuck with its original answer of “yes,” IP lawyers could see some handwriting on the wall.
