|
|
Article: What is patentable subject matter? The Supreme Court dismissed LabCorp v. Metabolite Laboratories, but the issue is not going away.
- Article from:
- Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Marquette University Law School. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Introduction
Patent law seeks to strike a balance regarding patentable subject matter between overprotection, which can impede the free exchange of ideas, and underprotection, which can lessen the incentive to invent. (1) Thus, what actually constitutes patentable subject matter under the Patent Act (2) is an important question and a question that the U.S. Supreme Court avoided in June 2006 by dismissing Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (LabCorp) v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc. (3)
Section 101 of the Patent Act regarding patentable subject matter was not argued in the court below so the Court did not decide LabCorp on the patentable subject matter ...