By Kevin E. Noonan —

On Thursday, counsel for plaintiffs/appellees in Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (who may be simply Dr. Harry Ostrer, the only plaintiff with standing in the case after the panel decision) filed a petition for rehearing before the Federal Circuit.  Patent Docs will make the petition available as soon as possible, including the grounds asserted for granting the petition.  Unless the Federal Circuit denies the petition, this action can be expected to delay the eventual petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court.  If that is plaintiffs' ultimate goal (as has been widely speculated), the only advantage to filing such a petition with the Federal Circuit, besides giving the Court another opportunity to opine, and perhaps do so en banc), is to strengthen plaintiffs' argument that the Federal Circuit cannot or will not decide patent-eligibiity in this case, and that the Supreme Court needs to provide appropriate guidance to the lower court.