"Your genes are the same, whether in a test tube or inside your body. But the very act of removing them makes them a patentable invention, according to Australia's Federal Court. Today, it handed down the country's first decision on gene patenting.

"By isolating a human gene from the body, even assuming it has 'precisely the same chemical composition and structure as that found in the cells of some human beings', Justice John Nicholas said an 'artificial state of affairs' had been created, making the gene patentable material."

SOURCE

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23180-victory-for-gene-patent-firm-in-australian-court.html