Third Party Observation in Patent Prosecution in China
Ways to Amend the Claims in the Patent Invalidation Proceedings
Cases Updated in CNIPA Guidelines - Eligibility & Inventiveness for AI & Business Method Applications
Five Impactful USPTO Procedural Developments for Patent Practitioners
Podcast: Patentable Subject Matter in 2019
On July 16, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced new guidance for examination of patent applications directed to critical and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI)....more
In accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in October 2023, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued new subject matter eligibility guidance relating to AI...more
Through the vicissitudes of the continuing chaos of subject matter eligibility, Senators Coons and Tillis have been steadfast in attempting to provide a legislative solution. They chaired a series of Congressional hearings in...more
Patent eligibility is broken. The only semi-cogent arguments that I have ever heard in support of the status quo is that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issues too many broad, vague patents, and that 35 U.S.C. § 101...more
There is ample evidence that patent examiner allowance rates vary dramatically from examiner to examiner and art unit to art unit.[1] This has resulted in the general understanding that there are "easy" examiners and "tough"...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established its Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in September 2012. As mandated by the America Invents Act, the PTAB conducts administrative trials, such as inter partes...more
With further apologies to David Letterman - Almost two years ago we published Stupid § 101 Tricks, an article discussing some of the annoying, improper, and yet disappointingly common patterns seen in rejection and...more
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced S. 4734, entitled "A Bill to amend Title 35, U.S. Code, to address matters relating to patent subject matter eligibility, and for other purposes" last night, as was discussed in an...more
Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (at right) released a blog post on the USPTO's Director's Blog on Monday addressing the fraught subject...more
Applicants for a new United States (US) nonprovisional application or National Stage Entry application may see a new form paragraph in their first Office Action between now and the end of July. The United States Patent and...more
As previously reported on March 12, 2021, bipartisan members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property sent a letter to the USPTO’s Commissioner for Patents “regarding the state of patent...more
The Federal Circuit affirmed a decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) rejecting claims for failure to satisfy the subject matter eligibility standard under 35 U.S.C. § 101, in ex...more
One would think that inventions relating to computer game software would easily meet the requirements for patent eligibility, as these inventions fundamentally involve technological processes and require computer...more
If we have learned anything from the last six-and-a-half years of patent eligibility jurisprudence, it is that nobody knows what's going on. Subject matter eligibility is a fundamental requirement for an invention to be...more
Last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) released a report detailing its findings on how the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, as well as subsequent USPTO guidance on 35...more
This article is the fourth in a five-part series. Each of these articles relates to the state of machine-learning patentability in the United States during 2019. Each of these articles describe one case in which the PTAB...more
CUSTOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, LLC V. DISH NETWORK CORPORATION, DISH NETWORK LLC. Before Prost, Dyk, and Moore. Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Claims...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (PEG) in January 2019, then released an update (PEG Update) in October 2019 to clarify certain issues in the PEG. The PEG and...more
This article is the second in a five-part series. Each of these articles relates to the state of machine-learning patentability in the United States during 2019. Each of these articles describe one case in which the PTAB...more
Earlier this year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or “the Office”) published the 2019 Revised Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (2019 PEG), which set forth newly revised procedures to be used by USPTO...more
The USPTO has released updated subject matter eligibility guidance that incorporates comments on the changes made in January 2019.The guidance is 22 pages long, with three appendices and 87 footnotes. Below are a few of the...more
Late last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published updated guidance to patent examiners for evaluating subject matter eligibility. This update was in response to comments received in response to...more
We wrote about the Federal Circuit’s American Axle decision last week, highlighting Judge Kimberly Moore’s fierce dissent. Judge Moore was not the only person with a strong reaction. A day after the decision, Rep. Doug...more
There is an ongoing struggle over § 101: the Federal Circuit struggles over the appropriate scope; the lower courts struggle to apply the Federal Circuit's decisions; litigants struggle due to the aforementioned. This has...more
Earlier this month, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) designated as informative four of its decisions applying the newest patent eligibility framework. This new eligibility framework, based on the United States Patent...more