Five cancer patients and a host of activists, clinicians, and researchers are suing a biopharmaceutical company, the University of Utah Research Foundation, and the US patent office over the right to patent genes. The lawsuit has the hallmarks of a landmark case with possible implications for the practice of patenting genes, according to the New York Times.

“It is absolutely our intent that upon victory this will rend invalid patents on many other genes,” Dan Ravicher a patent law professor at Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law who is involved with the case, told CNN. “We just had to pick one case as our case.”

The company, Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City, Utah, markets a genetic test for mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. The mutations are associated with an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation holds patents on the genes, and plaintiffs argue the genetic tests could be done faster and cheaper if other companies were allowed to test for the mutations. One patient said she wanted a second opinion after receiving a positive test result, but then found that no one else could provide the test.

Gene patents have long been controversial, and the BRCA patents were particularly contentious. (For an example, see ‘Europe to pay royalties for cancer gene’). Although a 2006 National Academy of Sciences report found that patenting genes has done little to limit innovation, others worry that the practice will become more troublesome as the era of personalized genomics brings a flurry of new genetic tests. (For more on this, check out Nature’s recent coverage of the gene patent debate here and here.)