Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (10-1150)
argument 10-1150Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc.
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 1m
6 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 4 days ago
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Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the central dispute between Mayo and Prometheus in this Supreme Court case?
We'll hear argument first this morning in case ten eleven fifty Mayo Collaborative Services versus Prometheus Laboratories.
Mr
Shapiro.
Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court. У here todяти реинстайки дистрикт корт'яцион. which faithfully applied this court's precedence under section one hundred one of the Patent Act. The problem with the Prometheus patent is its broad preemption of a physical phenomenon. which prevents others like Mayo Clinic from offering a better metabolite test with more accurate numbers. А несса хуюч практика проблем про пацієнс. These thiopurine drugs are strong medicines. Too much of this can be fatal. Too little can leave leave a chronic lingering disease in the patient.
I'm sorry, I didn't think that this patent covered the actual machine. Mayo is free to develop a new machine.
Well it what it can't do is use any number from four hundred up until infinity and it believes that's the wrong number. And it can't uh have a a a different standard for uh a legion of autoimmune diseases and there are dozens and dozens of them. That's a broad field to preempt the natural phenomenon.
It actually is much narrower than that. It's within a range. two ranges actually. And so It has already changed. one range and that's not the subject of the district court's finding. um that the lower number it's proposing is infringing. So It's not as broad as you're stating.
Well, you you see, Your Honor, w we believe the correct number is four fifty to seven hundred, and that's necessary to cure uh various autoimmune diseases. And Prometheus took the position that its patent preempts everything above four hundred, all the way up to infinity, it said, for all autoimmune diseases, dozens and dozens of them.
Well it took that position, but the district court narrowed it to fifteen percent. Well
fifteen. You know, actually it didn't, Your Honor. But it said four hundred and above uh all the way to infinity. Uh there's there's no upper limit on this. So as a practical matter, there's no room for anybody else to offer a metabolite test. And what this means for patients is one opinion in the United States. If you have one of these life threatening diseases, you get one opinion.
It can offer the tests, it just can't Recommend the dosage to the doctor.
Well it it can't have a test that has uh a different therapeutic range uh because that's a preemption. They ta they take tests
do two things. They measure something.
Yes.
And therapeutic range does something else. The tests can happen. The doctor gets a number, what the doctor does with that number is a different issue.
And and what what Prometheus submitted and the court agreed is if you are notified, if you're aware of their range, when you're drawing blood. That's an infringement right there then and there, if if you're aware or warned by their number. So any doctor in the United States that draws blood and is aware of this range of theirs is preempting. And the practical result is we haven't been able to offer this competing test now for seven years.
Will they take issue with the way you describe what has been preempted, or as you read their brief, we'll ask them, but as you read their brief, uh is is this crystal clear?
Well, you you'll see, uh Justice Kennedy, in the district court they argued for any number above four hundred. That's it's four hundred and above, is what it says. And they said there is no upper limit on that. The district court found that. That was their position.
In in thinking about what's preempted, I I looked at the dire case in involving the the rubber molding and constant monitoring. And if you could take an analogy from that, let's let's suppose that there was uh a system of measurements that you take every half hour, which constantly monitor how a drug uh is is uh uh being retained in the in the tissues. and that there is a protocol for the admission of some uh two or three different drugs to get the balance right. In other words, it's much more complicated.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central dispute between Mayo and Prometheus in this Supreme Court case?
0:03–7:53
2
How does the Prometheus patent allegedly pre‑empt a natural phenomenon and affect other medical tests?
7:53–14:43
3
Why do the parties argue that the patent claims are too broad under the Mayo‑Bilski framework?
14:43–22:14
4
What role do the concepts of “law of nature” and “abstract idea” play in the 101 analysis?
22:14–30:46
5
How do the parties define the therapeutic range and why is its specificity crucial?
30:46–38:25
6
What concerns does Justice Scalia raise about the accuracy of the patent’s numeric thresholds?
38:25–47:35
7
How could the patent’s pre‑emptive scope impact patient care and medical research?
47:35–55:07
8
What is the final request to the Court and how do the attorneys summarize their position?
55:07–1:01:21