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By David Bario
American Lawyer and Law.com Legal Newswire
November 04, 2009
"Opponents of patenting human gene sequences were handed a rare court victory on Monday[, November 2, 2009], when a federal judge refused to dismiss a suit challenging patents for two genes tied to cancers in women. ... The patents are owned by the University of Utah and licensed to ... Myriad Genetics. ... Myriad began contacting researchers ... who were working with [the two genes], demanding they cease their research ... and stop testing women for risk-carrying mutations.
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"The plaintiffs claimed that the [two] patents are invalid because they cover 'products of nature', and ... that Myriad's attempts to enforce the patents ... violated First Amendment protections.
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"Myriad ... and the PTO argued that the suit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs lacked personal and subject matter jurisdiction and because they failed to state a claim for a constitutional violation.
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"Manhattan federal district court Judge Robert Sweet ... ruled that the Patent Act did not pre-empt the court's jurisdiction over the plaintiffs constitutional claims and that the plaintiffs allegations were 'plausible, specific, and form a sufficient basis for Plaintiff's legal arguments'"
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