BPLA Files Amicus Brief in Support of Sequenom’s Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

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2016 Ⓒ Boston Patent Law Association

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BPLA

Files

Amicus

Brief

in Support of Sequenom’s Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

Volume 47, Issue 3

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

In the much-discussed case

Ariosa Diagnostics v. Sequenom Inc.

, the Federal Circuit created enormous turmoil concerning the modern boundaries of subject-matter eligibility under

35 U.S.C. § 101.

In a series of diverse interpretations of

Alice

and

Mayo

, various Federal Circuit judges threw up their hands at what they acknowledged was a broken and unworkable framework for determining patent-eligible subject matter. Unable to synthesize or distinguish

Alice

and

Mayo

, claims that were widely viewed as patentable were held to not be in the

Ariosa

decision. The

BPLA filed an amicus brief

supporting

Sequenom’s

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

asking the Supreme Court to clarify and restore the boundaries of § 101. Failure to do so would create a crisis for development of new and useful medical diagnostic methods and the miracle of “personalized” or precision medicine that requires them. Unfortunately, the

Supreme Court denied Sequenom’s Petition