For more than a decade, this blog has covered the topic of patentable subject matter. Over the years, we’ve addressed various issues regarding business methods, abstract ideas and other various topics. The “laws of nature” exception has presented itself from
On October 23, 2020, a Federal Circuit panel issued a unanimous decision in American Axle & Manufacturing v. Neapco Holdings—a case we’ve discussed on this blog several times before—in which the panel denied American Axle’s motion to stay issuance of
At the time of my last update in February on the state of patent eligibility law, the Supreme Court had recently declined to grant cert on Athena, Vanda, Berkheimer, Cellspin, Power Analytics, ChargePoint and Trading Technologies. The Court has now additionally denied
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its second and third decisions in American Axle & Manufacturing v. Neapco Holdings and Neapco Drivelines, the case we’ve previously discussed in which the following claim (claim 22)
In my post back in March 2018, I analyzed an upward change in allowance rates in the 36XX art units based on my practitioner’s observation that inventions were finally beginning to be more frequently found eligible for patenting following a
On April 30, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in Uniloc v. LG Electronics, concerning claims to a software invention for a local communication system that reduced latency for parked secondary systems, e.g., when connecting a local wireless peripheral
On Thursday, April 23, the USPTO released a new study entitled “Adjusting to Alice: USPTO patent examination outcomes after Alice Corp v. CLS Bank International.” The report illustrates the dramatic impact of two developments in the application of § 101
Under the America Invents Act, the USPTO is to stop accepting petitions for review of covered business method patents after September 16, 2020. Given the various other priorities Congress will be dealing with between now and then, it appears
Recent comments from Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia offer a counterpoint to my last post on the state of patent eligibility reform, in which I noted that Senator Tillis had recently expressed that modifications to the existing legal framework
Since I last wrote on the Coons-Tillis patent eligibility reform in Congress, the Federal Circuit declined to take up an en banc rehearing of Athena v. Mayo. The court was deeply divided in the 7-5 decision, with all 12
