For Lisbeth Ceriani, news that a judge had nullified the copyrights on the gene, which nearly killed her, was a triumph.

She says that gene patents are "turning our bodies into commerce".

Ceriani, of Newton, Mass., acquired a destructive form of cancer in both breasts at age 42. She wanted to get tested for mutations in the BRCA gene that would inform her if she was also at high risk for developing ovarian cancer.

But it took a long year and a half, because the organization, which creates the tests and possesses the copyright on the gene, had preferred not to strike a deal with her insurance supplier, MassHealth, a form of Medicaid, since the rate of repayment wasn't high enough. She says that only when the company, Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City, bestowed 200 tests to the state, she was able to be examined.

The findings revealed that she had the mutation. Ceriani had her ovaries eliminated prophylactically in December.

Meanwhile, her cancer went into diminution, and she joined a court case to upend Myriad's patent. She says, "It's like patenting blood or gold that comes out of the ground. It's ridiculous. Myriad treats the gene like a franchise. If you want to pay them a certain amount of money, they'll let you look at it".

The ACLU and the New York-based Public Patent Foundation had filed the lawsuit on behalf of physicians, patients and many medical groups, together with the Association for Molecular Pathology and the American College of Medical Genetics.