Genes can’t be patented, rules Australia’s High Court

Your genes are no longer patentable in Australia. The country’s highest court found unanimously that two previous Australian judgments allowing patents of genes were wrong, and they do not constitute a patentable invention.

The judges unanimously agreed on the outcome, but had different reasons. The majority of judges ruled that the key part of a gene is not its physical structure, but rather the information stored in it, which is not an invention. They wrote: “[Its] substance is information embodied in arrangements of nucleotides. The information is not ‘made’ by human action. It is discerned.”

They also said that if the patent was allowed, then it could be infringed by someone regardless of how they tested for it. And a pathologist wouldn’t know they had infringed it, until they actually found the gene. They noted that this could have a “chilling effect” on healthcare and research. “Such a result would be at odds with the purposes of the patent system,” they wrote.

Another group of judges said the subject of the patent was the isolated piece of...