NEW YORK - February 1 - The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), a not-for-profit organization affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, will go before a federal court tomorrow asking it to rule that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer are unconstitutional and invalid. The groups charge that the patents stifle diagnostic testing and research that could lead to cures and that they limit women's options regarding their medical care.

The lawsuit, Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al., was originally filed on May 12, 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of breast cancer and women's health groups, individual women and scientific associations representing approximately 150,000 researchers, pathologists and laboratory professionals. The lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation, which hold the patents on the genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. The lawsuit charges that patents on human genes violate the First Amendment and patent law because genes are "products of nature" and therefore can't be patented.

Several major organizations, including the American Medical Association, the March of Dimes and the American Society for Human Genetics, filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the ACLU and PUBPAT's case.

ACLU and PUBPAT attorneys will be available for questions after the hearing outside the courthouse.

WHAT:
Oral arguments in Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al., challenging the patents on the human genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

WHO:
ACLU attorneys Chris Hansen and Sandra Park will argue the case before Judge Robert W. Sweet of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Court. Other co-counsel in the lawsuit, including Daniel B. Ravicher, Executive Director of PUBPAT, as well as some plaintiffs and expert witnesses will also attend the hearing.

WHEN:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
10:00 a.m. EST

WHERE:
Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse
Courtroom 18C
500 Pearl Street
New York, NY 10007

More information about the case, including an ACLU video featuring breast cancer patients, plaintiff and supporter statements and declarations, the motion for summary judgment and the legal complaint, can be found online at: www.aclu.org/brca