[author: Antoinette F. Konski]

The U.S. Patent Office recently announced that it will not be delivering its report on Genetic Testing as required under Section 27 of the America Invents Act (“AIA”) by the June 16, 2012 deadline. Recall, under the AIA, the USPTO is required to study effective ways to provide independent, confirming genetic diagnostic test activity where gene patents and exclusive licensing for primary genetic diagnostic tests exist. To complete this study, the agency held two hearings and received a number of written comments from the public. As of Friday, June 15, 2012, the USPTO is in the process of finalizing its Genetic Testing report through an intra-agency clearance process. Because of this, the agency has alerted Congress that it will not be able to deliver the report on June 16, 2012, the due date required by the AIA. The USPTO noted that it will deliver its report as soon as possible once this process is complete.

The USPTO announcement can be found here.