U.S. Patent Office Issues New Examples of Patent Eligibility Analysis of Life Sciences Claims
By Aaron J. Morrow, Margaux L. Nair and Robert M. Barrett
United States Intellectual Property Alert
On May 4, 2016, the United States Patent Office published a subject matter eligibility update for determining patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The Update supplements the previous guidelines and includes additional life science claim examples to assist patent examiners (“Examiners”) in making eligibility determinations. The Update indicates that Examiners should use the additional claim examples in conjunction with the prior guidelines which were published by the Patent Office on December 16, 2014. The additional examples include illustrative claim sets directed to vaccines, methods of diagnosing and treating a disorder, dietary sweeteners, gene screening, a paper-making machine, and a method of hydrolyzing fat.
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