Outside Publication

Mayo, Myriad, and a Muddled Analysis: Do Recent Changes to the Patentable Subject Matter Doctrine Threaten Patent Protections for Epigenetics-Based Inventions? Minnesota Law Review

102 MINN. L. REV. 2229 (2018)

May 2018

When evaluating Patentable Subject Matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101, courts tend to follow the Supreme Court’s decision in Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 133 S. Ct. 2107 (2013), when evaluating product claims, and its decision in Mayo Collab. Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012), when evaluating method claims. According to the Court’s instruction, however, the two-part Mayo test should be the exclusive test for Section 101 disputes. Depending on how courts reconcile the Mayo and Myriad rulings with each other, the outlook on the patentability of biotechnology product claims may change.

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