Notwithstanding lower court decisions to the contrary, this is the only result that makes sense. The human genome is as old as H. sapiens, which is several hundreds of thousands of years old by most reasonable scientific estimates. Therefore, neither Myriad Genetics Inc. nor any other business entity or individual can claim to have invented the two genes related to breast cancer, only to have isolated and identified them.
That's a relief. I am glad to know I once again own my genes, or at least that no one else owns them. And to think I thought it was bad when someone in the 19th century managed to patent the telegraph magnet...
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| Thanks to the Supreme Court, in the picture above, only the electrical components can be patented |
