Patent Law Practice Center

Federal Circuit refuses en banc hearing in Ariosa v. Sequenom

Several weeks ago, in a per curiam decision with only Judge Newman dissenting, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied the Sequenom petition for rehearing en banc. See Ariosa Diagnostics, Inv. v. Sequenom, Inc. Sequenom, the patent holder, had already hired Thomas Goldstein, the founder of SCOTUS blog and renowned Supreme Court advocate, as a part of their appellate team. The case will now undoubtedly move to the Supreme Court. We can only hope that the Supreme Court will take the case and once and for all decide whether they intended for all genomic innovations, no matter how revolutionary, to be patent-ineligible.

If you look quickly at the per curiam decision, you might mistakenly believe that there is a unanimity of thought at the Federal Circuit on the issue of patent eligibility. After all, the case was denied en banc rehearing. But there were three separate written opinions, two concurring with the denial and only Judge Newman dissenting. In truth, if you take the time to read the opinions, you realize that all four of the Judges who signed opinions believe the Supreme Court is wrong on patent eligibility. Given Judge Linn’s concurring opinion at the panel level, we can safely conclude that he too believes the Supreme Court is wrong on this matter.

After the brief per curiam decision, several written opinions followed. First, Judge Lourie, who was joined by Judge Moore, wrote that while the claims at issue may be susceptible to challenge for being too broad or indefinite, “they should not be patent-ineligible on the ground that they set forth natural laws or are abstractions.”

Lourie would go on to conclude:

In sum, it is unsound to have a rule that takes inventions of this nature out of the realm of patent-eligibility on grounds that they only claim a natural phenomenon plus conventional steps, or that they claim abstract concepts. But I agree that the panel did not err in its conclusion that under Supreme Court precedent it had no option other than to affirm the district court.

Even Judge Dyk, who is more skeptical of patents than most of the other judges on the Federal Circuit, thinks the Supreme Court went too far in Mayo, but wrote separately that he believes that any additional guidance must come from the Supreme Court, not the Federal Circuit.

In an uncharacteristically short dissent, Judge Newman wrote:

Precedent does not require that all discoveries of natural phenomena or their application in new ways or for new uses are ineligible for patenting… The new diagnostic method here is novel and unforeseen, and is of profound public benefit… The panel’s decision to withhold access to patenting, now endorsed by the en banc court’s refusal to rehear the case, is devoid of support.

Judge Newman also went on to remind us all that patenting “facilitate[s] the public benefit of provision of this method through medical diagnostic commerce, rather than remaining a laboratory curiosity.”

We haven’t heard the last of this case. The question remains, however, whether the Supreme Court will take the case when given the opportunity or whether they will allow this ruling and the confusion to remain indefinitely.