Supreme Court Says No to Patenting Human Genes

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that isolated human genes cannot be patented, but synthetic DNA sequences — known as complimentary DNA (cDNA) — are eligible for protection.“A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas, “but cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring.” Read the full story