Shengfeng Chen - 2nd Place Food and Drug Law Writing Award

Shengfeng Chen, class of 2008, took second place in the Food and Drug Law Institute H. Thomas Austern Memorial Writing Competition.

Pathways To Patents: Applying the Written Description Requirement Doctrine To Patents On Biological Pathways earned Shengfeng a $1000 award.

In recent years, patenting biological functions has become the central topic of the debate over biotech patent policy. Courts have faced increasingly difficult questions such as research tool patents, and “reach-through” claims. The concern over patenting biological functions reached its high-water mark when the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Labcorp v. Metabolite, where the disputed patent claimed a correlation between an elevated level of homocysteine and a deficiency in B vitamins in humans.

Metabolite, the licensee of the patent, sublicensed the patent to Labcorp. When an alternative method of homocysteine assay became available on the market, Labcorp switched to the alternative assay and discontinued royalty payments to Metabolite. Thereafter, Metabolite sued Labcorp, alleging that the use of the alternative assay infringed its patent. The Federal Circuit held that the patent was valid and that Labcorp willfully infringed the patent. Labcorp filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court, contending that the patent claim was invalid as unpatentable subject matter. After hearing oral arguments, the Supreme Court dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted because the issue presented was not raised in the decision below.