The USPTO has gotten scrutinised and came under heavy fire after it had awarded patents on genetics. These were not invented, so they redefine what parents actually are. This site does not deal much with patents other than software patents (that's not to say that these are the only contemptible monopolies), but some other sites, including sites of lawyers who know nothing about biology (some would say that genetics were invented by "God"), did cover an important case which can help redefine US patents as applying to naturally-recurring biology, too. Here are three links:
Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. Myriad Genetics was founded in 1991, and licensed, exclusively in the field of diagnostics, and also invented a group of patents associated with the five to ten percent of breast cancers known to have a strong hereditary component. The biomarkers disclosed, discussed, and claimed in these patents are also associated with an increased lifetime risk of ovarian and other cancers. See this U.S. Government website Genetics of Breast and Ovarian Cancer, updated 3/04/2013, and accessed April 14, 2013, for timely information on the significance of these biomarkers.
Today is human genome day at the US Supreme Court. There will be oral argument on Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.. The link will take you to the ABA's collection of amicus briefs, and there are many of them, and the merits briefs. The question before the court is this: