[JURIST] The High Court of Australia [official website] ruled [order, PDF] Wednesday that the genetic material, BRCA1 [NCI backgrounder], is not a “patentable invention” under §18(1)(a) of the Patents Act 1990 [text]. Holding [judgment summary, PDF] that allowing the gene to be patented would “involve an extension of the concept of a manner of manufacture,” the court said that this question was not “appropriate for judicial determination.” In a plurality decision, the court determined that because of the far-reaching public policy effects present in the case the question is best left for “legislative determination.” The decision is expected to have broad implications for cancer research.

Wednesday’s ruing overturns a decision by the Federal Court of Australia [official website], which last year upheld [JURIST report] a ruling allowing US-based genetic testing company Myriad Genetics [corporate website] to retain its patent for the genetic material it had isolated from human cells. The US Supreme Court has also weighed in on the issue, ruling [JURIST report] unanimously in 2013 ruled that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated. During the oral arguments [JURIST report], the appellant, Association for Molecular Pathology, argued that Myriad Genetics had not invented anything and was simply trying to patent a product of nature.