Curie Institute Challenges Patent On Breast Cancer

hysterion writes: "According to today's Libération, the Curie Institute is challenging a recent European patent which grants Utah's Myriad Genetics a de facto monopoly on genetic tests for breast cancer. The article (fish translation) quotes a Curie researcher: "Their patent is so vague that even using other techniques, one could be sued for infringement. (...) So European labs have to send all samples to Salt Lake City. This means that we risk losing our skills, our credits, and in the long term, any ability to do research. Meanwhile, Myriad overcharges 3.5 fold, and gets to build a nifty world wide database." The researchers complain about being prevented from improving the test so that it tracks a newly identified mutation."

Can prior art be invoked here?

[mfarah]

Invoking prior art sounds like the only way to fight generic patents today. Could the Curie lab find a test created previously to the patent that is covered by its too-broad scope?