Benefits of NASA Space Directive on Mars could be Limited by Uncertain...
President Donald Trump signed a new space policy directive for human expansion across the solar system, a directive which hearkens at least slightly back to Horace Greeley’s “Go West, young man.”...
View ArticlePatent-Ineligibility of Medical Diagnostics, Life Sciences Discoveries...
In a research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), evidence emerged that a higher expression of the GIRK1 protein in malignant tissue samples was linked to higher relapse and mortality...
View ArticleFederal Circuit says Finjan virus-screening method not abstract, is patent...
In Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Systems, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently affirmed-in-part, reversed-in-part, and remanded the case to the district court. Notably,...
View ArticleClaims not directed to abstract results when reciting specific steps that...
According to the Federal Circuit, The claims simply do not simply recite an abstract result. Because the claims recite specific steps that accomplish a desired result, the the claims were found to be...
View ArticleFederal Circuit says Claims for Summarizing Information are Not Abstract
The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of LG‘s motion for summary judgment that various claims of Core’s patents were directed to patent ineligible subject matter under Section 101....
View ArticleRevised MPEP May Provide New Tools in Alice Rejections
The MPEP requires that “[i]n particular, the initial burden is on the examiner to explain why a claim or claims are ineligible for patenting clearly and specifically, so that applicant has sufficient...
View ArticleBerkheimer v. HP: Federal Circuit says patent eligibility a factual...
Berkheimer is also equally important, if not more important, because it stands for the proposition that questions of fact can and do underline patent eligibility determinations. This is important not...
View ArticleIs there a Light at the End of the Alice Tunnel?
Maybe I’m being too optimistic. But in a pair of decisions issued within a week of each other, Berkheimer v. HP and Aatrix Software v. Green Shades, the Federal Circuit just vacated two patent...
View ArticlePatenting Antibodies: Obviousness Considerations
This article analyzes obviousness issues related to antibody patents at the Patent Trials and Appeal Board (PTAB) and in federal courts. We review several cases categorized by type of claims in search...
View ArticlePTAB is Bogged Down by Eligibility Appeals
The low allowance rates and nearly blanket eligibility-rejection issuance in the business-method art units is not without consequence. Beyond disincentivizing innovation, the examination of...
View ArticleLaw Professors Urge CAFC to Uphold Cleveland Clinic Diagnostic Method Patents
A group of six patent law professors filed an amicus brief with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Cleveland Clinic v. True Health Diagnostics. The professors’ brief urges the Federal...
View ArticleIt is already too late, but we still have time
“If companies were to lobby to allow for more polluting most people would think that is unethical,” Lauder explained. But there are people lobbying to make it more difficult for companies to come up...
View ArticleDirector Iancu tells Senate: 101 is an issue “we must all address”
"The PTO we will work to provide more concrete tests – to the extent possible given Supreme Court precedent," Director Iancu said speaking about patent eligibility. "This is an area we must all...
View ArticleUSPTO issues 101 guidance limiting examiner ability to merely conclude...
The Notice is significant because in a 101 rejection, an examiner cannot simply assume that elements or a combination are "well understood, routine or conventional." Examiners will be required to...
View ArticleUSPTO memo explains changed Alice Step 2B to examiners
Yesterday the USPTO issued subject matter eligibility guidance to its examining corps in a memorandum that changes how examiners approach their Alice Step 2B analysis. Specifically, the memo recognizes...
View ArticlePatent Subject Matter Eligibility 101
The patents discussed below are all landmark inventions and were conceived by inventors inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF). Would these ground-breaking inventions, that helped set...
View ArticleWesternGeco’s Time-Bar Argument Fails to Save its Invalidated Patents
On appeal, WesternGeco argued 1) the Board erred as to its unpatentability determinations; and 2) the IPR proceedings were time-barred under 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) because ION acted in privity with PGS,...
View ArticleDirector Iancu worries current state of Section 101 ‘weakens the robustness...
Director Iancu: "But for our purposes what I know for a fact is that in order to incentivize American innovation whether it’s artificial intelligence, DNA processing, or anything else we need to have a...
View ArticleVanda v. West-Ward: This Time, Dosage Adjustment Claims are Patent Eligible...
The Federal Circuit’s decision in Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, No. 2016-2707, addresses the complicated topic of patent eligibility in the pharmaceutical space. Much of the...
View ArticleIancu: ‘It is unclear what is patentable and what is not, and that can...
Earlier today USPTO Director Andrei Iancu testified at an Oversight Hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. In addition to detailing forthcoming changes to post grant proceedings, Director Iancu...
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