Overnight, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring.
Importantly, the case does not involve method claims, patents on new applications of knowledge about the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, or the patentability of DNA in which the order of the naturally occurring nucleotides has been altered. We will provide an updated blog post shortly, but for those who cannot wait, PatentlyO has rolling coverage.
In Australia, the Federal Court held that isolated nucleic acid such as isolated DNA and RNA is patentable subject matter in Australia (report here). This Federal Court decision is currently under appeal and still pending (report here).