October 10, 2011

Source: ISB News Report - October 2011
by Phillip Jones

On July 29, 2011, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision about the patentability of DNA molecules and methods of using DNA molecules. Although these are questions that many thought had been resolved decades ago, the court added a new twist to the law. According to the court, the distinction between a product of nature and a human made invention for patentability purposes turns on a change in the claimed composition's identity compared with what exists in nature. The court acknowledged that "biologists may think of molecules in terms of their uses, but genes are in fact materials having a chemical nature and, as such, are best described in patents by their structures rather than their functions."

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Website: http://www.isb.vt.edu

Published: October 10, 2011