BioHistory Moment: Diamond v. Chakrabarty case argued before U.S. Supreme Court

On March 17, 1980, the Diamond v. Chakrabarty case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the patentability of genetically altered microorganisms.

In 1972, Chakrabarty filed a patent application assigned to the General Electric Co. for a human-made genetically engineered bacterium capable of breaking down multiple components of crude oil. The application asserted 36 claims related to Chakrabarty's invention of a bacterium from the genus Pseudomonas containing at least two stable energy-generating plasmids, each of said plasmids providing a separate hydrocarbon degradative pathway.

On June 16, 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld five-to-four the patentability of genetically altered organisms, opening the door to greater patent protection for any modified life forms. Chief Justice Warren Burger delivered the opinion of the Court, in which justices Potter Stewart, Harry Blackmun, William Rehnquist, and John Paul Stevens joined. William Brennan filed the dissenting opinion, in which Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, and Lewis Powell joined.

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