It has nearly been ten years since the Supreme Court’s landmark Mayo v. Prometheus (132 S.Ct. 1289 (2012)) decision, in which the Court established a two-prong test for determining patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §...more
Case Summary- On March 17, 2020, the Federal Circuit found that patents claiming methods of preparing an extracellular fraction of cell-free DNA that is enriched in fetal DNA were patent eligible and not invalid under 35...more
This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has handed down a pair of opinions concerning Section 101 in the field of pharmaceuticals and life sciences. In both cases, the district courts held claims of the...more
Mallinckrodt filed a certiorari petition with the Supreme Court last week, over the Federal Circuit panel decision (by Chief Judge Prost joined by Judge Dyk; Judge Newman dissented on the issue before the Court in this...more
There is a belief in some quarters that the most significant barrier to patent subject matter eligibility reform is an implacable opposition by companies in the high tech sector because those companies are convinced that the...more
Partner Mauricio Uribe hosted a webinar presenting, "Trends and Changes in View of the USPTO's Updated Revised Guidance." Topics Include: • Summary of the October 2019 Update to the Revised Guidance •...more
Just Because Something May Result From a Prior Art Teaching Does Not Make it Inherent in that Teaching - In Personal Web Technologies, LLC v. Apple, Inc., Appeal No. 2018-1599, the Federal Circuit clarified that the mere...more
The Supreme Court earlier this decade issued several decisions concerning patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. These decisions have resulted in the invalidation of patents over concerns that the patents cover and preempt...more
Before Wallach, Clevenger, and Stoll. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Summary: Claims directed to a specific method of treatment for specific patients using a specific compound...more
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Mayo and Alice decisions, uncertainty has surrounded what inventions are patent eligible in the United States. In Mayo and Alice, the Supreme Court developed a two-step test to determine...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a memorandum on June 7 (the “Memorandum”), providing much-needed guidance to patent examiners as to whether method of treatment claims are to be considered patent-eligible...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued a memo providing examination guidance on the subject matter eligibility of the method of treatment claims. The memo discussed the recent Federal Circuit...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware accepted Merck’s arguments that method of treatment patents asserted by BMS against its Keytruda product “touch[] upon a natural phenomenon” such that they should be...more
The USPTO has asked for written comments on its patent subject matter eligibility guidance by July 31, 2014. In this article, I discuss why therapeutic method claims and method of manufacture claims should not be subject to...more