More likely they&#x27;ll come up with a rhetorical workaround that makes perfect sense to judges, patent attorneys, and poorly-informed juries from the Australian equivalent of East Texas.<p>With software patents, for instance, there may be no way to claim ownership of Algorithm X in a given jurisdiction&#x27;s patent system, but there&#x27;s probably no obstacle to claiming &quot;A machine that executes Algorithm X.&quot;  The problem then becomes tractable: just write the claims in such a manner  that they cover all practical implementations of such a machine, present or future.<p>It will now be the job of the company&#x27;s patent counsel to come up with a similar artifice to claim ownership of any conceivable test or diagnostic process that involves specific BRCA genes.  I&#x27;m sure they&#x27;ll pull it off, somehow.<p>Failing that, the company&#x27;s lobbyists will simply ensure that the next regional or global trade agreement mandates that each ratifying nation implement gene patents.