Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Dba Labcorp v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc., et al. (548 U.S. 124)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 22, 2006 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 548 U.S. 124 · 126 S. Ct. 2921
- Decided
- June 22, 2006
- Term
- October Term 2005
- Vote
- 5–3
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Petition denied or appeal dismissed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. The writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted. The Chief Justice took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. Justice Breyer, with whom Justice Stevens and Justice Souter join, dissenting. This case involves a patent that claims a process for helping to diagnose deficiencies of two vitamins, folate and cobalamin. The process consists of using any test (whether patented or unpatented) to measure the level in a body fluid of an amino acid called homocysteine and then noticing whether its level is elevated above the norm; if so, a vitamin deficiency is likely. The lower courts held that the patent claim is valid. They also found the petitioner, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp), liable for inducing infringement of the claim when it encouraged doctors to order diagnostic tests for measuring homocysteine. The courts assessed damages. And they enjoined LabCorp from using any tests that would lead the doctors it serves to find a vitamin deficiency by taking account of elevated homocysteine levels. We granted certiorari in this case to determine whether the patent claim is invalid on the ground that it improperly seeks to “claim a monopoly over a basic scientific relationship,” Pet. for Cert, i, namely, the relationship between homocysteine and vitamin deficiency. The Court has dismissed the writ as improvidently granted.…
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