The plausibility question

Bratin Roy of Bristows comments on the Court of Appeal case which confirmed the invalidity of a gene sequence patent

In the first UK case dealing with the validity of a gene sequence patent, the Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s view that the patent in question was invalid for lack of industrial applicability. The decision in Eli Lilly and Company v Human Genome Sciences [2010] EWCA Civ 33 was made despite the European Patent Office (EPO) upholding the same patent, and could have important consequences for the fate of other patents in this important and often controversial area.