New and Useful – July 8, 2013 · The Federal Circuit inUltramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC held that the district court erred in holding that the subject matter of U.S. Patent No. 7,346,545 ('545) is not a "process" within the language and meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 101. The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded this case stating the claims were not abstract […] Continue Reading →
Supreme Court Addresses Product of Nature Doctrine Relating to Gene Patents The Supreme Court today handed down its decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. The Court held that isolated DNA is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but that complementary DNA (cDNA) is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring. The Court limited […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Deems Software Patent Ineligible, Provides Little Certainty In its recent en banc decision inCLS Bank v. Alice Corp, the Federal Circuit has affirmed the finding of subject matter ineligibility of Alice Corp's method and software for management of risk in financial transactions through use of a third party intermediary. The ten-member panel produced seven different decisions, but did not produce any majority […] Continue Reading →
Supreme Court Orders Federal Circuit to Reconsider Patent-Eligibility of Genes Just six days after it handed down its decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., the Supreme Court vacated the Federal Circuit’s decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, ordering the appellate court to reconsider the case in light of the Prometheus decision. Order granting cert., vacating […] Continue Reading →
Supreme Court Clarifies Patentability of Medical Treatments The Supreme Court recently handed down its unanimous decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., No. 10-1150, slip op. (March 20, 2012). The Court specifically considered the patentability of a method for determining the effective levels of a drug to be administered to a patient, and found the claims in question to be […] Continue Reading →
Ultramercial LLC v. Hulu LLC The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently addressed the issue of whether a method of using advertising as a form of currency, to distribute copyrighted products over the internet, constituted patent-eligible subject matter. The court reversed the district court’s dismissal for lack of subject matter eligibility and found the claimed invention […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit reviews “abstract” exception to patent-eligible subject matter The Federal Circuit recently revisited the issue of patentable subject matter under § 101 of the Patent Act in light of the Supreme Court’s Bilski decision. In Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, the Federal Circuit determined that the claimed methods relating to half-toning digital images were not abstract and satisfied the requirements of […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit determines that method for optimizing dosing of medication is patent eligible The Federal Circuit on Friday looked at the issue of what constitutes an attempt to patent a natural phenomenon. In Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services, the Federal Circuit determined that a method for optimizing the dosage of a medication was not directed to a natural phenomenon and therefore was patent-eligible subject matter within […] Continue Reading →
USPTO publishes interim guidance for assessing patentable subject matter post-Bilski In a Federal Register notice today, the USPTO has published interim guidance regarding how examiners are to assess whether an application's patent claims fall within the scope of patentable subject matter defined in § 101 in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Bilski. Many patent attorneys were concerned when the initial memo to examiners […] Continue Reading →
Supreme Court: Business method patents survive, but barely; Bilski’s claims unpatentable Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided Bilski v. Kappos, the most recent case at the Court probing the boundaries of patentable subject matter under § 101. Details of the underlying facts of the Bilski case may be found in our post on the Federal Circuit's en banc decision here. All nine Justices agreed that Bilski's method […] Continue Reading →