medical treatment patentable. In 2015, the High Court of Australia unanimously ruled that isolated nucleic acid does not qualify as proper subject matter for patent protection. This decision moves Australia's laws regarding patentable subject matter closer towards those of the US. Tests Under section 18 of the Patents Act 1990, a patent can only be granted if the subject matter is a manner of manufacture (invention) within section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies 1623, which is novel and involves an inventive step when compared to the prior art base, and is useful. In light of the absence of special treatment for biotechnology-related processes, and the innovativeness and usefulness of its patents, it is unlikely that Genetic Technologies' BRCA licenses could be successfully contested under Australian patent law. Challenges to license validity Under section 46 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, a corporation with a substantial degree of market power is prohibited from taking advantage of its power to substantially damage competition. However, recent court decisions have been reluctant to apply this section to invalidate patents. For example, in Warman International v Envirotech Australia Pty Ltd, Wilcox J held that "to exercise in good faith an extraneous legal right, though the effect may be to lessen, or even eliminate competition, is to take advantage of that right, not of market power." Given the broad claims of gene sequence patents, such as the BRCA patents licensed to Genetic Technologies, and the courts' limited regard for anti-competition provisions, it is unlikely that Genetic Technologies' monopoly could be contested under the Trade Practices Act 1974. This could potentially limit the availability of products and processes related to the BRCA genes. Application of BRCA1 and BRCA2 patent licenses in Australian market Monopolistic behaviour Genetic Technologies has had less success than Myriad Genetics in enforcing its exclusive rights to BRCA gene testing in its home country. Genetic Technologies has made multiple attempts to force other laboratories to stop performing BRCA tests, but yielded to public pressure to cease its attempts. Accessibility of BRCA Testing The Australian Law Reform Commission has declined to recommend amendments to gene patent and licensing laws on the basis that there is a lack of evidence that gene patenting and licensing has significantly affected Australian health care costs. The BRCA test would have cost A$2,100 through Genetic Technologies, but public laboratory BRCA tests are subsidised by the federal government. Genetic Technologies'