For centuries now, farmers have been practicing agriculture by saving seeds from the harvest and using it for next year’s crop. Call it a form of insurance. Call it security. They may even exchange seeds with neighboring farms. This is their security blanket to keep poverty at bay as well as ensure crop genetic diversity. […]

Welcome to another Autumnal Edition of Blawg Review, hosted this week by the Patent Baristas. We’re always glad to have people over to visit so grab a piping hot spiced latte and we’ll see what’s been going on around the blogosphere. This week we honor Inventors’ Day (German: Tag der Erfinder), which is celebrated in […]

The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) an amicus curiae brief in the AMP v. USPTO and Myriad Genetics case, a lawsuit challenging patents covering diagnostic tests for mutations in genes.  In the district court, the University of Utah and Myriad Genetics lost in a U.S. court ruling over patents for detecting inherited breast cancer related […]

In a lawsuit challenging patents covering diagnostic tests for mutations in genes, the University of Utah and Myriad Genetics lost a U.S. court ruling over some of its patents for detecting inherited breast cancer related to the human genes known as Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes 1 and 2, or “BRCA1” and “BRCA2.”  The 152-page decision […]

Earlier, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), and a whole gaggle of others filed a lawsuit challenging patents covering diagnostic tests for mutations in genes.   Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, et al. On March 29, 2010, the University of Utah and Myriad […]

Browsing the aisles of Costco, taking in the consumerism the Christmas has come to denote, my mind was drawn to its jewelry and watch section. As I was feasting my eyes upon baubles and trinkets I have no use for, I recalled the not so recent Ninth Circuit Costco v. Omega which in turn reminded […]

Huw G. Hallybone, a Partner at Carpmaels & Ransford, gave a talk at the BIO IP Counsels Committee Conference (IPCC) in Boston last week about allowable subject matter at the EPO. Article 53 Exceptions to patentability European patents shall not be granted in respect of: (a) inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to […]

At the BIO IP Counsels Committee Conference (IPCC) in Boston last week, Sandra Wells, VP and Chief IP Counsel of Affymetrix, gave a talk about the evolving patent-eligibility standards for genes. Earlier, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), and a whole gaggle of others have filed a lawsuit challenging patents […]