20100330 - A federal judge struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer ... breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2 ... individual patients and medical organizations ... argued that genes, products of nature, fall outside of the realm of things that can be patented ... Myriad genetics ... holds the patents ... judge Sweet said that many ctirics of the genes patents considered the idea that isolating the gene made it patentable "a lawyers trick" ... Edward Reines, a patent lawyer ... said loss of patent protection could diminish the incentives for genetic research ... (by J. Schwartz and A. Pollack in New York Times).