In September of this year, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a notable
decision regarding patentable subject matter. The decision, in
McRO Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games America (McRO),
signals a possible shift in the way courts evaluate the types of
inventions that can be patented. New developments appear to
reinforce this view and suggest that both the courts and the U.S.
Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) will increasingly think twice
before determining that inventions are unpatentable "abstract
ideas."
The U.S. Supreme Court's
decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International (134
S.Ct. 2347) continues to set the standard for patent eligible
subject matter with its infamous two-part test. The Alice
test first examines whether a patent claim contains an exception
from patentability and, if the answer is affirmative, asks whether
there are additional elements in the claim that amount to
"significantly more." One well known exception is
