EST Fragments Not Patentable in US

From Navigating the patent maze:

"Since 1991, when the NIH (National Institutes of Health) in the U.S. filed a patent application claiming thousands of EST sequences, controversy and disagreement about the legalities and wisdom of patenting such sequences has permeated law reviews and scientific journals.

Now, despite other U.S. patents issuing with claims to EST (expressed sequence tags, i.e., partial sequences of cDNA molecules) sequences, the Board of Appeals of the USPTO recently affirmed a rejection of claims to EST sequences. (Ex parte Fisher, Appeal No. 2002-2046). The bases for the rejection upheld by the Board were (i) lack of utility and (ii) lack of enablement. The opinion of the Board is being appealed to the Federal Circuit, who will hear and decide on the case early next year. "