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Betting on Bilski: The Supreme Court and Biotechnology Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| Reviewing Bilski and the Biotech Patent
| Landscape. Recall that Bilski involves a
| form of method patent (the so-called
| âbusiness methodâ patent) that claims a
| method of hedging commodities prices by
| setting up a relationship between a
| regular seller (a coal mine, for example)
| and regular buyer (a power company). The
| question is whether such a method
| constitutes patentable subject matterâthat
| is, is the Bilski method the sort of ânew
| and useful process, machine, manufacture,
| or composition of matterâ that meets the
| standards of Section 101 of the Patent
| Act. In its 2008 en banc decision, the
| Federal Circuit establishedâor re-
| established, since it had been lurking in
| the case law for yearsâthe so-called
| âmachine or transformationâ test for
| method patents. Under this test, the
| method must be tied to a particular
| machine (whatever that means) or transform
| some article into a different state or
| thing in order to qualify as patentable
| subject matter. According to the Federal
| Circuit, Bilskiâs patent failed both
| branches of the test.
|
| By contrast, in its 2009 decision in
| Prometheus v. Mayo, the Federal Circuit
| upheld a patent on âa method of optimizing
| therapeutic efficiency for treatment of an
| immune-mediated gastrointestinal
| disorder.â The method comprises
| âadministeringâ a specified drug to a
| patient and then âdeterminingâ the level
| of the drug in the patient. The remainder
| of the claim specifies threshold levels of
| the drugâs metabolites (the chemical
| products of metabolism in the body) in the
| patientâs blood below which the dose
| should be increased (because of lack of
| efficacy) and above which it should be
| decreased (because of potential toxicity).
| The court found that both administering
| the drug and determining the metabolite
| levels (by withdrawing and testing blood)
| worked a sufficient physical
| transformation of the body.
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http://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2010/05/21/betting-on-bilski-the-supreme-court-and-biotechnology-patents/
Synthetic life patents 'damaging'
,----[ Quote ]
| A top UK scientist who helped sequence the
| human genome has said efforts to patent
| the first synthetic life form would give
| its creator a monopoly on a range of
| genetic engineering.
|
| Professor John Sulston said it would
| inhibit important research.
|
| US-based Dr Craig Venter led the
| artificial life form research, details of
| which were published last week.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10150685.stm
Recent:
Your genome isn't that precious â give it away
,----[ Quote ]
| A more radical approach - and one likely to appal the privacy advocates - is
| to throw off the shackles of privacy protection altogether. This is the line
| followed by Harvard Medical School's Personal Genome Project, which aims to
| make personal genome sequencing more affordable and accessible. The PGP
| obliges those who choose to participate to make their genetic data and other
| personal information available to researchers and the public.
`----
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327224.500-your-genome-isnt-that-precious--give-it-away.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Microsoft trying to patent studying evolution
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2p009/08/microsoft-trying-to-patent-technique-for-studying-evolution.ars
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