The following is an excerpt.
The biotechnology industry has growing concerns over decisions to be taken this year by the United States Supreme Court in two cases involving the patenting of human genes and the exhaustion of patent rights in the context of easily reproducible products. Several areas of biotechnology could be affected by unfavourable decisions, provoking legal uncertainty and discouraging innovation, industry representatives said in a recent telephone conference. In the meantime, civil society stands fast in opposition.
On 14 February, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) organised a telephone conference to present “the broad-reaching impacts and implications of these two very different cases, each of which presents distinct questions of patent law that could affect the future of innovation in biotechnology.”
The two cases are Bowman v. Monsanto Co, and Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (IPW, US Policy, 11 January 2013).
View the original article here: Monsanto, Myriad: Two US Legal Cases Shaking Biotechnology Industries
Additional Resources:
- “Bowman v. Monsanto: Genetic innovation in the crosshairs?” Genetic Literacy Project
- “Celltex v. the FDA: Do patients have a right to use their own stem cells for unproven treatments?” Genetic Literacy Project
