Synberc Blog The Myriad decision and synthetic biology: What we know for sure

Author: Linda KahlPost date: 06/14/2013On July 13, 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court issued their decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. Naturally, this decision has sparked much discussion amongst the synthetic biology research community. What does this decision mean with regard to the patentability of synthetic constructs created from natural DNA sequences? Does this decision mean that the information contained within DNA sequences is patentable? And, ultimately, how will this decision affect innovation in synthetic biology?It is important to keep in mind that the court limited their decision to only one inquiry under U.S. patent law: Does isolated DNA or cDNA constitute patentable subject matter under 35 USC 101? The short answer is: NO for isolated DNA based on natural sequences, and MAYBE for cDNA molecules - see end of first paragraph, page 17.The court specifically expressed no opinion whether cDNA satisfies the other requirements for patentability such as novelty (35 USC 102), non-obviousness (35 USC 103), and enablement/definiteness (35 USC 112) - see footnote 9.As is typical of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the full impact will be become more apparent as the lower courts interpret this decision in subsequent cases. While we may not yet have answers to all of our questions, we do have more certainty today than we did before.What we know for sure is that this decision renders invalid any claim with the structure "isolated DNA having SEQ ID NO: 1"