As the U.S. Supreme Court starts its next term on Oct. 3, 2011, the biotechnology industry is awaiting resolution of at least one of three pending disputes addressing the extent to which diagnostic medical methods are patent-eligible. Per colleague Hal Wegner, respondent’s U.S. Supreme Court brief in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. is due Oct. 31, 2011 and oral argument is scheduled for Dec. 7, 2011. (See Hal’s List, TopTen2011Sept25 (2).pdf). U.S. Supreme Court certiorari petitions also are expected soon in two other recent Federal Circuit decisions raising similar issues: Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. v. Biogen Idec. and Assn. Molec. Path. et al. v. USPTO et al., (“ACLU/Myriad“, a/k/a “the gene patenting case”). Whether certiorari is granted in Classen and/or the ACLU/Myriad gene patenting case may provide some insight into whether the U.S. Supreme Court will tweak or revamp the Federal Circuit’s application of the Bilski “machine or transformation” patent-eligibility test to patents covering medical methods.
Category Archives: Petitions for Rehearing
Federal Circuit Denies ACLU’s Petition for Panel Rehearing in Myriad “Gene Patenting” Case
Posted in 35 U.S.C. 101; Gene Patents; Petitions for RehearingFor those of you closely following Assn. Molec. Path. et al. v. USPTO et al., otherwise known as the Myriad “gene patenting” case, you already know that both sides petitioned the Federal Circuit for a rehearing by the three-judge panel (not en banc), albeit for different reasons. Specifically, on August 25, 2011, on behalf of Plaintiffs/Appellees, the ACLU filed a Petition for Panel Rehearing on the merits, while Myriad/Appellant filed its own Petition for Panel Rehearing on the standing issue four days later. Both parties filed petitions in response to the precedential decision by the Federal Circuit on July 29, 2011. The latest update is that yesterday, September 13, 2011, the Federal Circuit denied ACLU’s petition, although we still await word on Myriad’s petition.
ACLU and Myriad Both Petition for Panel Rehearing In Myriad “Gene Patenting” Case
Posted in 35 U.S.C. 101; Biomarkers; Gene Patents; Petitions for RehearingOn August 25, 2011, on behalf of Plaintiffs, the ACLU filed a Petition for Panel Rehearing with the Federal Circuit in Assn. Molec. Path. et al. v. USPTO et al., known as the Myriad “gene patenting” case. Four days later, on August 29, 2011, Myriad likewise filed its own Petition for Panel Rehearing. Both parties filed their Petitions in response to a precedential decision by the Federal Circuit a month earlier. In that decision, a three-judge panel held, among other things, that all “isolated DNA” claims at issue are patent-eligible, contrary to Plaintiffs’ position. All three judges wrote detailed opinions, with Judge Lourie writing the majority opinion, Judge Moore concurring-in-part, and Judge Bryson concurring-in-part but dissenting-in-part regarding claims encompassing isolated genomic DNA. For background details of the case, see August 9 post, July 31 post and July 29 post. (Many thanks to Kevin Noonan at Patent Docs for first providing the Petitions.)
ACLU/Plaintiffs Petition for Panel Rehearing
In their recent petition, Plaintiffs ask the same three judges rehear the case again. Notably, they do not ask for a rehearing en banc, which would entail reconsideration by all active Federal Circuit judges.
