McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP partner Dr. Kevin E. Noonan authored an article entitled, “Patent Docs: Patent-eligible subject matter in the district courts” that appears in the January 15, 2014 online edition of DDNEWS. Last month, in a decision by the Northern District of California in Ariosa Diagnostics v. Sequenom, the court granted summary judgment of invalidity for claims directed to non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of sex determination, blood typing, other genetic disorders and detection of pre-eclampsia, using a simple blood test that reduces or eliminates the need for amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (which incur risks to both mother and child). The court’s basis for its decision was, ultimately, recent Supreme Court cases proscribing the limits of patent eligibility for claims to diagnostic methods and isolated genetic material. View the article
