Law360, New York (June 13, 2013, 6:18 PM EDT) -- On June 13, 2013, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Ass'n for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, addressing the controversial question of whether DNA is patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Drawing a line between two different forms of DNA molecules, the Supreme Court held that isolated DNA is an unpatentable product of nature while cDNA is a non-naturally occurring genetic sequence, and is patentable under the statute. Isolated DNA (or isolated genomic DNA) is DNA taken from a part of the entirety of an organism's hereditary information or chromosomes. Complementary DNA (cDNA) is DNA that is artificially synthesized from messenger RNA, which is genetic material transcribed from genomic DNA that becomes proteins....