USPTO Issues New Guidelines For Determining Subject Matter Eligibility Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

For the fourth time in less than a year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued guidance to examiners on the question of subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Section 101).¹ This took place on January 7, 2019, when the USPTO circulated its "2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance" (the 2019 Guidelines), which revised its prior procedures for determining whether a patent claim is directed toward eligible subject matter under Section 101.² The 2019 Guidelines provide a significant step toward clearing up the muddy waters that are the current state of affairs regarding patent eligibility in the United States, and potentially reduce the number of rejections in pending patent applications by the USPTO under Section 101. Nonetheless, whether there will be any significant practical change to the current examination of patent applications by the examiners of the USPTO is unclear.