BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics, Policy & Law

SCOTUS could be letdown

Prometheus arguments show SCOTUS still struggling with MDx patent issues

December 12, 2011 8:00 AM UTC

Discussion at last week's oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court suggest molecular diagnostic companies may not get the guidance they are hoping for from the high court's decision in Mayo Collaborative Services et al. v. Prometheus Laboratories Inc.

Prometheus is the last of three cases the Supreme Court could have used to provide clarity on the patent-eligibility of methods claims for molecular diagnostics. The first two, Laboratory Corp. of America Holdingsv. Metabolite Laboratories Inc. and Bilski et al. v. Kappos, did little to clarify eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act(see Featured Links, A5)...