SUPREME COURT - On Human Gene Patents

Our Supreme Court gets this one right (as in correct).

"Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Human Genes Cannot Be Patented" PBS Newshour 6/13/2013

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  We turn now to the Supreme Court's decision on genes and its impact for patients and medical research.

The justices unanimously ruled that a company cannot patent an isolated human gene.  The case involved Myriad Genetics, a company that holds patents on genes correlated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2.  Myriad sells the genetic tests for those cancers.

In the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote:  "Myriad found the location of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.  But that discovery, by itself, doesn't render the BRCA genes patent eligible."

But the justices also found that firms can patent synthetically created genetic material known as cDNA.

For a look at the implications, we are now joined by Todd Dickinson.  He's the executive director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.  And Sandra Park, she's an attorney with the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU.  Their team argued the case against Myriad Genetics.