Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Dba Labcorp v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc.

543 U.S. 1185, 125 S. Ct. 1413, 161 L. Ed. 2d 188, 73 U.S.L.W. 3512, 2005 U.S. LEXIS 2077

• Court: Supreme Court of the United States
• Decided: February 28, 2005
• Docket: 04-607
• Status: Published

Opinion

C. A. Fed. Cir. The Acting Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States limited to the following question:. “Respondent's patent claims a method for detecting a form of vitamin B deficiency, which focuses upon a correlation in the human body between elevated levels of certain amino acids and deficient levels of vitamin B. The method consists of the following: First, measure the level of the relevant amino acids using any device, whether the device is, or is not, patented; second, notice whether the amino acid level is elevated and, if so, conclude that a vitamin B deficiency exists. Is the patent invalid because one cannot patent ‘laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas’? Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U. S. 175, 185 (1981).”