Hooray for Robert Sweet!

[glatt]

Every once in a while, a federal judge doesn't screw over the American people, and it's always nice to see.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by glatt

Every once in a while, a federal judge doesn't screw over the American people, ...

Um... that's what the Supreme Court is for, any chance that bunch has to make humans less important than companies will be exploited. This one will be overturned by the nutters.

[Sheldonrs]

I watched a story on this last Sunday on "60 Minutes". Myriad is fighting the ruling. Suprise.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'm sure that will go all the way to the Supremes, there's big money on both sides of the fight. It may even effect the selection/confirmation of the next justice.

[Lamplighter]

The Feds have finally taken the proper stand on this issue in a "friend of the court" brief...

NYTimes

U.S. Says Genes Should Not Be Eligible for Patents
By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: October 29, 2010

Reversing a longstanding policy, the federal government said on Friday that human and other genes should not be eligible for patents because they are part of nature. The new position could have a huge impact on medicine and on the biotechnology industry

We acknowledge that this conclusion is contrary to the longstanding practice of the Patent and Trademark Office, as well as the practice of the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies that have in the past sought and obtained patents for isolated genomic DNA,” the brief said.

It is not clear if the position in the legal brief, which appears to have been the result of discussions among various government agencies, will be put into effect by the Patent Office.

[xoxoxoBruce]

However, the government suggested such a change would have limited impact on the biotechnology industry because man-made manipulations of DNA, like methods to create genetically modified crops or gene therapies, could still be patented.

I read this to mean a company can patent a therapy for a particular gene, but can't prevent another company from developing a different therapy (which they can patent) for the same gene.

If so, this is very good news, but I doubt this is the end of it. This will most likely go to the supremes.