A federal appeals court has ruled that genes can be patented, and upheld Myriad Genetics' patents for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, reports The New York Times' Andrew Pollack. Myriad uses the genes as the basis for its BRCAnalysis diagnostic test to detect mutations in the BRCA genes. In March 2010, New York Southern District Court Judge Robert Sweet invalidated the patents and said that genes can't be patented because they are products of nature.