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Convincing third parties of the value of your invention

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

The Washington Post has an article on the Myriad patent case, titled: Lawsuit attacks patent giving company control over genetic test for cancer risk.

IPBiz found interesting the emphasis on the following in a quote of Richard Marsh, executive VP of Myriad:

"It is an expensive test; affordability is a concern. But the whole patent system is to incentivize people to go out and develop a product and make it more accessible. We've literally spent hundreds of thousands if not millions to convince physicians and insurance companies that if you can diagnose someone with a predisposition [to cancer,] you'll save more money by paying for the $3,000 test than hundreds of thousands on chemotherapy and surgeries."

The emphasis was on the cost of making the invention known, not on the costs of research. Apply this thinking to California's CIRM, and one sees that the CIRM dog won't hunt, except for things like stem-cell induced breast augmentation.

An earlier IPBiz post on the Myriad case:

Ruling in Myriad/BRCA case: can anyone challenge any patent at any time?

**In passing, one notes that the Washington Post article quoted blogger Kevin Noonan.

Full post as published by IPBiz on March 02, 2010 (boomark / email).