Mayo’s impact on patent applications related to biotechnology, diagnostics and personalized medicine

Mateo Aboy, Cristina Crespo, Kathleen Liddell, Timo Minssen, Johnathan Liddicoat

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

On the sixth year anniversary of Mayo (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-1150.pdf), our empirical study examines the impact of the US Supreme Court decision on patent subject-matter eligibility, patent examination and patent prosecution of biotech related patent applications before the USPTO. To answer our research questions, we developed an empirical methodology designed to elucidate Mayo’s impact on patent applications across a full technology center, TC 1600, which relates to Biotechnology & Organic Chemistry, as well as the narrower Art Unit 1634. Our search algorithm identified 72,990 USPTO correspondence documents that contained a Mayo citation over the last six years (20 March 2012 to 20 March 2018). Of these, 33,878 were identified in Examiner Office Actions, 34,417 in Applicant Responses to Office Actions and 4,695 in other correspondence, such as Appeals.
Original languageEnglish
JournalNature Biotechnology
Volume37
Pages (from-to)513-518
Number of pages6
ISSN1087-0156
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2019

Keywords

  • Faculty of Law
  • patents
  • diagnostics
  • biotechnology
  • precision medicine
  • Intellectual property rights (IPR)
  • US
  • Europe

Cite this