Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc.

Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (2012) was a Supreme Court case resolving whether certain medical tests were patentable. Prometheus had patents on a method for measuring how patients metabolize drugs, but the Court ruled these methods were not patentable because they essentially claimed natural laws—the body's metabolic responses—rather than an inventive process. This decision clarified that laws of nature, natural phenomena, or abstract ideas can't be patented just because they involve some application, promoting innovation and preventing patents from monopolizing fundamental natural relationships.