Association for Molecular Pathology
v.
United States Patent and Trademark Office & Myriad Genetics
(Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, July 2011)

“While the process of (gene) extraction is no doubt difficult, and may itself be patentable, the isolated genes are not materially different from the native genes . . . merely isolating the products of nature by extracting them from their natural location and making those alterations attendant to their extraction does not give the extractor the right to patent the products themselves.

In that respect, extracting a gene is akin to snapping a leaf from a tree . . . plucking the leaf would not turn it into a human-made invention.”

Excerpts from the dissenting opinion of Circuit Judge William Bryson, after being overruled two to one in favor of permitting companies to continue patenting genes.