Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, June 17, 2013 will be a discussion of the recent Myriad case and a Federal Circuit decision on the court’s jurisdictional scope on appeal. Brief synopses of the cases appear below.

Assoc. for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., Case No. 12-398 (U.S.  June 13, 2013) (available here).  In this case, the Supreme Court determined that patent claims directed to genes that occur naturally are not patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101.  However, the Court was careful to point out that, in this case cDNA was not a product of nature and, thus is patent eligible.

Robert Bosch, LLC v. Pylon Mfg. Crop. (Fed. Cir. 2011-1363, 1364 June 14, 2013) (available here).  The Federal Circuit took this case sua sponte and en banc to answer two questions. First, does 28 U.S.C. § 1292(c)(2) confer juris- diction on the Federal Circuit to entertain appeals from patent infringement liability determinations when a trial on damages has not yet occurred? Second, does 28 U.S.C. § 1292(c)(2) confer jurisdiction on the Federal Circuit to entertain appeals from patent infringement liability determinations when willfulness issues are outstanding and remain undecided? The court answered both questions in the affirmative and returned the case to the panel for disposition on the merits.

All are invited to join us in our discussion during the SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, June 17, 2013 at Noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Noelle Smith by 9 am Monday morning.