Stem Cell Patent Reaches Top Court

Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s decision and allow it to seek the cancellation of a patent on human embryonic stem cells held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). In June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the group could not challenge the Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) decision to uphold WARF’s patent because it is a third party and suffered no harm as a result of the agency’s action. Daniel B. Ravicher, Consumer Watchdog’s counsel, says federal patent law gives parties that challenge the validity of a patent the right to appeal a “faulty decision” by PTO to the courts. “It also conflicts with the clear intent of Congress to empower the public to seek revocation of invalid patents,” he says. The group argues that a patent on human stem cells should be rejected because the work covered is not novel or original. The group also points out that the Supreme Court ruled last year that a “product of nature” cannot be patented.