Classen: Has the Federal Circuit Lost Interest in Patentable Subject Matter?
Allison Williams Dobson is an attorney, scientist and lecturer in the Norfolk, Virginia area and is a regular GLR contributor.
But First: The Federal Circuit Has Denied the Plaintiff’s Motion for Rehearing in Myriad: This week, the Federal Circuit issued a one-word order—“Denied”—turning down both parties’ requests for rehearing by the three-judge panel that decided that case originally. The parties now have 90 days to file a certiorari petition asking for Supreme Court review.
This news is not surprising considering the Federal Circuit’s most recent treatment of patent-eligible subject matter under § 101 of the Patent Act. On August 31, 2011, another 2-1 divided panel issued its opinion (three very strong opinions, really) in Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. v Biogen Idec (pdf).
The majority finds that two of the three method patents in dispute claim subject matter that is patent-eligible under § 101. However, the court also emphasizes repeatedly that the two patents “may not” meet the other requirements for patentability imposed by §§ 102 (novelty), 103 (nonobviousness), and/or 112 (adequate written description). The thrust of the majority’s message is becoming a familiar mantra–the statutory role of § 101 is to act as a “coarse eligibility filter”–a gateway to the real tests–and not the “final arbiter of patentability.”
Pigs Return to Earth: Federal Circuit Reinstates Most—But Not All—of Myriad’s Patents
The Federal Circuit’s long-awaited decision (pdf) in Association for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO (the Myriad gene patent litigation) was issued this past Friday. As we were writing, with the economy having slowed to a barely perceptible crawl and a government default looming more likely by the hour, there were plenty of reasons to believe that the sky was falling. But the Myriad decision was not, and is not, one of them.
For the most part, the Federal Circuit’s 2-1 decision returned the law to the state it was in before District Judge Sweet’s opinion turned things upside-down last March. Although full of interesting rhetoric, the court’s three lengthy opinions (a total of 105 pages) are less remarkable for what they decide than for what they invite higher authorities—the Supreme Court and the Congress—to decide down the road.
First, the scorecard. The court’s judgment—that is, the holding, or outcome—was joined by Judges Lourie and Moore. A third member of the panel, Judge Bryson, dissented in part, meaning that he joined only a portion of the judgment (more on that below) and disagreed with another part.
Prometheus Returns to the Supreme Court, Medical Method Patent Speculation Intensifies
While everyone has been busy speculating about whether the Supreme Court will ultimately take the Myriad case, the justices (at least four of them—see below) sprung a surprise this week by deciding to review the Federal Circuit’s decision in another biomedical patent case, Prometheus v. Mayo.
The patents at issue in Prometheus involve a method of administering a drug (specifically thiopurine drugs used to treat gastrointestinal and other autoimmune diseases), measuring the drug’s level in a patient’s body, and then adjusting the dosage of the drug. The Supreme Court will hear the case this fall and should (see below) issue a ruling by next summer, thus drawing to a close a legal journey that began more than three years ago in a California district court.
Patent Update: Looking Beyond Section 101 and the Continued Murkiness of Method Patents
As the biotechnology community awaits the Federal Circuit’s decision in the Myriad Genetics patent litigation, attention has focused on the fundamental issue in that case: whether genes and methods for interpreting mutations are patentable subject matter under section 101 of the Patent Act—that is, whether they are the kinds of things that can be patented assuming that all of the other requirements of the Patent Act (pdf) are satisfied.
However, we have argued in several articles (see, e.g., here, here and here) that the real action is more likely to involve all of those “other requirements” as courts explore other ways to limit the patentability of scientific and technology progress without altering the threshold test of patentability under section 101.
A recent Federal Circuit case (Billups-Rothenberg, Inc. v. Associated Regional and University Pathologists, Inc.) decided under the written description requirement of section 112 illustrates this point yet again.
Billups v. ARUP Background. The Billups case involves a disorder called Type I hereditary hemochromatosis, which is characterized by excessive absorption of iron. The critical gene in the absorption process is called HFE, or “High Fe.” In 1994, Billups filed the application that led to a patent on methods for testing for hemochromatosis (U.S. patent number 5,674,681; “’681”). The court’s opinion reproduces this claim as “representative”:
2011 Personal Genomics Preview: It’s Déjà Vu…
Last January we kicked off the new year by posing “Five Questions for Personal Genomics in 2010.” Here were the five questions we asked:
1. Will the $1,000 genome live up to the hype?
2. Will personal genomics stay DTC?
3. How will the ongoing gene patent debate affect the progress of personalized medicine?
4. When and where will the next regulatory shoe fall?
5. Who will control the data?
A year later the question that comes first to mind is, has anything really changed?
The short answer is no, not fundamentally, although that is not meant to imply that nothing of note happened in 2010. Far from it, as significant legal, regulatory, policy and technological developments continued to reshape the personal genomics landscape.
With that in mind, we welcome 2011 with a look back at the year that was, and a look ahead at what to expect from 2011 and beyond.
Prometheus Unbound—Again
The latest news from the field of biotechnology patents is in: the Federal Circuit has handed down its opinion (again) in Prometheus v. Mayo (pdf), the closely watched diagnostic method case. The verdict is the same as before: Prometheus’s patents satisfy the § 101 test for patentable subject matter.
On Monday, we wrote about the Federal Circuit’s first post-Bilski method patent decision: Research Corporation Technology v. Microsoft. In analyzing RCT we argued that it was “a good bet that the Prometheus and Myriad patents, and others like them, will survive § 101.” That bet paid off today in Prometheus and, based on the signals the Federal Circuit sent in that opinion, we think it is increasingly likely to pay off again in Myriad in the form of at least a partial reversal (more on this below).
Applying Bilski means Business as Usual. Way back in June, when the Supreme Court decided Bilski, it not only failed to provide lower courts (including the Federal Circuit) with meaningful guidance for biotechnology method patents, it arguably failed to provide meaningful guidance about anything at all. Despite predictions that Bilski might fundamentally reshape the patent landscape, the Court’s fractured opinions produced little in the way of binding law. The clearest statement from the Court was that the machine-or-transformation test for method patentability, which the Federal Circuit had previously deemed an exclusive test, was in fact only a “useful and important tool.” (Other useful and important tools were not, however, enumerated.)
A Hint About Where the Federal Circuit Is Going with Method Patents?
GLR readers will recall that just last summer the Supreme Court passed-up a major opportunity to clarify the status of method or process patents. The patentability of business methods, computer-implemented processes, and diagnostic and other medical methods has long been both controversial and uncertain. In Bilski v. Kappos, the Court confronted a method for hedging against fluctuations in commodities prices. All nine justices thought the method was too abstract to comprise patentable subject matter as defined in section 101 of the Patent Act, but they couldn’t agree on why. The five-member majority held that the machine-or-transformation test (which states that the method must be tied to a particular machine or change something into a different state) propounded by the Federal Circuit in its initial Bilski decision could not be the exclusive test for patentability, but it failed to come up with a test of its own.
The day after issuing its decision in Bilski, the Supreme Court dealt, temporarily, with another closely watched case, Prometheus v. Mayo. In Prometheus, the Federal Circuit used Bilski’s machine-or-transformation test to uphold a method for administering a drug, measuring its level in the body, and then adjusting the dosage. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Prometheus, as well as in a similar biotechnology method case (Classen Immunotherapies v. Biogen IDEC), and then immediately vacated both decisions and remanded the cases to the Federal Circuit for reconsideration in light of Bilski. Neither of those decisions have yet been issued by the Federal Circuit.
Swine Still Soaring: Federal Circuit Judge Expresses Sympathy for Myriad Analysis
Back in March, we headlined our discussion of the district court judgment in the Myriad case “Pigs Fly.” Guess what?—they’re still aloft. On August 4, in a highly technical patent case that, appropriately enough, involved “porcine virus DNA,” one Federal Circuit judge—dissenting Judge Timothy B. Dyk—suggested that he might agree with the basic principle of the Myriad holding: that isolated DNA sequences are not necessarily patentable.
Judge Dyk’s comments were a bolt out of the blue, as he raised an issue that had not been addressed by the parties or the lower court. Because he is a member of the court that will decide Myriad in the next year or so, Judge Dyk’s comments might be more significant than the district court opinion itself. (The case is Intervet Inc. v. Merial Ltd., Fed. Cir. 8/4/2010.)
Breaking: Biotech and the Supremes: Prometheus Follows Bilski to Highest Court (For Just a Moment)
Yesterday the Supreme Court issued its decision in the highly anticipated patent case, Bilski v. Kappos. Contrary to some expectations, the Court decided Bilski on narrow grounds, leaving the state of biotechnology patents largely untouched. Here is part of what we wrote yesterday:
Although the Court’s narrow ruling left a direct treatment of the difficult issues surrounding biotechnology patents for another day, those issues continue to loom large. As of this writing, a petition for certiorari in the Prometheus case is currently pending before the Supreme Court. In Prometheus, the Federal Circuit court applied the MoT test in a biotechnology context, upholding a patent on a method for improving administration of a drug. If the court grants review of the Prometheus decision, the biotechnology world will have another Supreme Court nail-biter on its hands, beginning with the oral argument next fall. Even if the Court denies certiorari in Prometheus, a number of alternate channels for biotechnology patent reform remain open, including the ongoing Myriad gene patent litigation (which itself might eventually reach the Supreme Court), the SACGHS gene patent recommendations and even private, industry-driven discussions (of which rumors abound).
The Court wasted no time resolving the will-they-or-won’t-they Prometheus question. In an order issued today (pdf) the Supreme Court granted certiorari and then immediately vacated the decision and remanded the case to the Federal Circuit for consideration in light of Bilski. With Bilski in the rearview, and Prometheus back to the Federal Circuit, speculation will now shift to the question of what, if anything, the Federal Circuit will do differently with Prometheus the second time around. Let the waiting begin anew.
Bilski and Biotech: Business As Usual, For Now
Earlier today the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in what some patent observers have termed “the most highly anticipated patent decision of all time“: Bilski v. Kappos (pdf). The Bilski case was widely watched not for the significance of the particular patent at issue but for the far-reaching effect on patent law that the case might have.
Would the Court treat Bilski as a referendum on the patentability of so-called “business methods”? Would it speak more broadly still, using Bilski as an opportunity to clarify the patentability of a range of emerging technologies, particularly in the areas of software and biotechnology? These questions took on added significance for biotechnology companies, investors, researchers and observers earlier this spring when a federal court in New York used Bilski’s machine-or-transformation test to invalidate several of Myriad Genetics’ diagnostic method claims.
