By Lauren Maloney
The Moore and Myriad decisions poorly interpret the statutory language in the Patent Act, making it easier for human beings to become fungible objects bought and sold in the marketplace. Although that statute requires that inventions and discoveries be new, both decisions fail to recognize this. The courts ignore the uniqueness of each person’s body parts, leading to two practices: the coercion/corruption marketplace dichotomy and the loss of “personhood” within a person’s property. The cases reduce people to mere objects, commodifying human beings and objectifying them in the marketplace.