USPTO Issues "2014 Interim Guidance On Patent Subject Matter Eligibility"

On December 15, 2014, the USPTO published a document titled "2014 Interim Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility" (Interim Guidance). The new Interim Guidance follows the previous preliminary examination instructions issued on June 25, 2014, in view of CLS v. Alice (2014), and was published as a notice for comments and may therefore be updated depending on public feedback.¹ The new Interim Guidance combines the earlier guidance for claims reciting abstract ideas with the March 4, 2014, guidance for claims reciting natural phenomena and laws of nature.²

Under the new Interim Guidance, examiners are instructed to first determine whether the claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories of 35 USC §101 (i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter). If so, the examiner is instructed to apply a two-part patent-eligibility analysis, as articulated by the Supreme Court in Alice. In sum, examiners are instructed to apply the two-part