A 'Field of Women' formed to raise funds for Breast Cancer Network Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground on May 7, 2010.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Can companies patent human genes? It was the question considered by an Australian federal court judge who on Friday ruled that a U.S. biotech company was within its rights to hold Australian patent 686004.

That patent covers mutations of the human gene BRCA1 which point to a greater hereditary risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

The same gene, along with another, BRCA2, is at the center of a high-profile lawsuit in the U.S. set to be heard by the Supreme Court in April.

That lawsuit argues that patents on human genes violate the First Amendment and U.S. patent law because genes are "products of nature" and therefore can't be patented, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The Australian Federal Court defeat was a crushing blow for cancer campaigners who have been fighting to have the patent declared invalid since the case was first filed in June 2010.

"I won't give up the fight because this is too important for future generations of people who at some point in their lives may need testing and treatment for cancers and other diseases," said breast cancer survivor Yvonne D'Arcy, one of the parties in the case.

Rebecca Gilsenan of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, who represented D'Arcy and Cancer Voices Australia, said: "We are disappointed in this ruling but it is not necessarily the end of the issue in a legal or policy sense.

"We think there may be grounds to appeal, and that there's a reasonable chance that we will make that decision in the next week or two."

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Australian court backs claim to own breast cancer gene

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