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The court's ruling came in a challenge launched by medical researchers and others to seven patents owned by or licensed to Salt Lake City, Utah-based biotechnology company Myriad Genetics Inc on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

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The court, in an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, ruled that forms of DNA that have been manipulated in the lab in a way that alters their natural state can be patented.

Called cDNA - the "c" stands for "complementary" - it is essentially an edited form of a gene, with extraneous stretches excised. This DNA is patent eligible, the court said, because it is not naturally occurring, unlike isolated DNA simply extracted from a human body.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, ya think???

The Supreme Court has found 9-0 that patents on human DNA violate the patent law because human DNA is not an invention, it's a natural product.

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The court's ruling came in a challenge launched by medical researchers and others to seven patents owned by or licensed to Salt Lake City, Utah-based biotechnology company Myriad Genetics Inc on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/13/us-usa-court-genes-idUSBRE95
C0PW20130613

However, they CAN patent synthetic DNA

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The court, in an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, ruled that forms of DNA that have been manipulated in the lab in a way that alters their natural state can be patented.

Called cDNA - the "c" stands for "complementary" - it is essentially an edited form of a gene, with extraneous stretches excised. This DNA is patent eligible, the court said, because it is not naturally occurring, unlike isolated DNA simply extracted from a human body.

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