Patent Litigation Weekly: Patent Bar, Doctors Face Off in Prometheus v. Mayo

The April/May issue of IP Law & Business featured a story about Robert Shafer, a Stanford University researcher whose free HIV database had become embroiled in a patent dispute that led Shafer to believe medical method patents are out of control.

Since that story’s publication, groups representing most of the American medical establishment have become involved in two major patent cases that turn on the same question that Shafer confronted: just what kinds of "technology" should be eligible for patent protection?

One of those cases, Prometheus Laboratories v. Mayo Collaborative Services et al., is now headed to the Federal Circuit; oral arguments are scheduled for August 5. Amicus briefs filed on both sides show clearly the divide between the patent bar and medical professionals on this issue.