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Wächter, Dieter --- "Patenting diagnostics" [2017] ELECD 803; in Matthews, Duncan; Zech, Herbert (eds), "Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and the Life Sciences" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 15

Book Title: Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and the Life Sciences

Editor(s): Matthews, Duncan; Zech, Herbert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783479443

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Patenting diagnostics

Author(s): Wächter, Dieter

Number of pages: 11

Abstract/Description:

Diagnostic patents have in recent years gained much public attention, even in the lay press.This is mainly because of two particular patent rights that have stirred concerns in the public that patents covering diagnostic tests have the potential to unduly limit the availability of certain diagnostic tests for patients.Just as an example, in October 2015 BBC News reported that an Australian grandmother won a landmark court case against an Australian patent covering genes used for diagnosing breast cancer.But let me first give a brief introduction into patenting diagnostics. There are basically two types of patent claims in the patent system, namely, composition of matter claims and process claims. In the field of diagnostics these are on the one hand claims directed to a product such as a particular diagnostic target or a diagnostic reagent and on the other hand claims directed to particular methods of diagnostic testing. Typical patent claims covering diagnostic methods relate for example to testing methods, which may indicate that a patient has a certain disease condition or has an infection by a particular virus or bacteria.