Section 101 Patent Eligibility Roundup: An Informative PTAB Decision, Squires Speaks

Plus a Serie A Rundown!

PTAB Designates Recent Decisions as Informative

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board designated a recent decision as informative. In the decision, Coke Morgan Stewart, Acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO), ended the petitioner's challenges, noting that such review is unnecessary because a district court already found the patent to be ineligible under Section 101.

Stewart noted that the Board applied the Fintiv framework but "that framework generally addresses the impact of an ongoing proceeding ... " Here, the Fintiv framework "does not fit neatly with the circumstances of this case, where the district court already determined that the challenged claims are invalid under § 101 before the Board's decision." Regardless, Stewart found that the framework emphasizes efficiency and, here, the "efficiency and integrity of the patent system" are best served by denying institution.