Microsoft Molecular Patent?

An update on my summer research will have to wait. The most recent issue of Science included an article about Microsoft and a patent application they submitted having to do with using molecular data to infer phylogenies. From the article it sounds like the patent was written to be too broad encompassing and simple to be approved. However, if such a patent were to pass it would have huge affects. I have to wonder what the rules are for patent applications to pass. Do they take into considerations such as slowing down the progress of scientists when making their decisions? Who makes such decisions and how knowledgeable about they about molecular phylogenetics? This is a world of which I am unaware.