In deciding that isolated human genes were not patentable, the High Court cited research by UQ’s ARC Laureate Professor Brad Sherman on the meaning of invention and the product of nature doctrine in intellectual property law. Queensland cancer survivor Yvonne D’Arcy won the High Court challenge she brought against Myriad Genetics on the patenting of the genetic mutation in human genes BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, linked to breast and ovarian cancer (D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc [2015] HCA 35 7 October 2015 S28/2015).
Sherman, ‘D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics: Patenting Genes in Australia’ (2015) 37 Sydney Law Review 135.
Sherman and Bently, The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law, (Cambridge University Press: 1999).