PXE has the distinction of being the only disease for which a layperson is the discover of the mutated gene. The "ABCC6" gene mutation was discovered simultaneously by four research teams, all of which published at the same time. The principal investigators were (in order of the date of publication): Jouni Uitto, Arthur Bergen, Charles Boyd, and Klaus Lindpainter. The gene was patented by Charles D. Boyd, Katalin Csiszar, Olivier LeSaux, Zsolt Urban, Sharon Terry, and assigned to PXE International by these co-inventors. Between the filing and 2013, when the Supreme Court of the United States declared that genes may not be patented. PXE International freely licensed the gene to any lab for clinical testing and research. PXE International continues to hold and maintain other patents (diagnosis and treatment patents).