
    No. 04-607.
    Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, dba LabCorp v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc., et al.
   C. A. Fed. Cir. The Acting Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States limited to the following question:. “Respondent's patent claims a method for detecting a form of vitamin B deficiency, which focuses upon a correlation in the human body between elevated levels of certain amino acids and deficient levels of vitamin B. The method consists of the following: First, measure the level of the relevant amino acids using any device, whether the device is, or is not, patented; second, notice whether the amino acid level is elevated and, if so, conclude that a vitamin B deficiency exists. Is the patent invalid because one cannot patent ‘laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas’? Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U. S. 175, 185 (1981).”  