Courts have long interpreted Title 35 of the U.S. Code, Section 101, to bar patenting abstract ideas, laws of nature or natural phenomena.

But until six years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's Section 101 case law could have at least reasonably been understood to treat the issue as a pure question of law to be most often resolved at the motion-to-dismiss stage. A patent either claimed an unpatentable idea, law or phenomenon on its face, or it did not.

Originally published in Law360 - August 27, 2024.