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Supreme Court Reverses Federal Circuit in Mayo v. Prometheus
Practical Law Legal Update 4-518-5529 (Approx. 2 pages)
Supreme Court Reverses Federal Circuit in Mayo v. Prometheus
by PLC Intellectual Property & Technology
| Published on 20 Mar 2012 • USA (National/Federal) |
On March 20, 2012, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. The court unanimously held that Prometheus's claimed methods using certain individualized drug metabolite measurements to determine the calibration of a patient's drug dosage were not patent-eligible subject matter under Section 101 of the Patent Act because the methods simply recited a law of nature.
On March 20, 2012, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. The court unanimously held that Prometheus's claimed method using certain individualized drug metabolite measurements to determine the calibration of a patient's drug dosage was not patent-eligible subject matter under Section 101 of the Patent Act. The court ruled that the claimed method simply recited a law of nature, specifically the correlation between the concentrations of certain metabolites in the blood and drug effectiveness or toxicity.
The decision reverses the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's earlier decision finding the claims patentable because they included additional limitations reciting treatment steps involving a particular application of the natural correlations. The Supreme Court held that the additional limitations were routine, conventional steps that did not transform the natural correlations into patentable subject matter.
For a more detailed discussion, see Practice Note, In Dispute: Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories.