USPTO Issues Updated Guidance On Patent Subject Matter Eligibility

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued updated guidance laying out the USPTO's interpretation of the subject matter eligibility requirements of 35 U.S.C. 101. 2014 Interim Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, 79 Fed. Reg. 74618 (Dec. 16, 2014). The new guidance supplements the USPTO's June 2014 guidance issued following the Alice Corp. decision and supersedes its March 2014 guidance issued after the Myriad and Mayo decisions.  

The new guidance includes a flow chart with the subject matter eligibility test.

Step 1 is to determine whether the claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories (a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter). If it is, Step 2A is to determine whether the claim is directed to any judicially recognized exceptions (a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea). To determine whether a nature-based product falls within a product of nature exception (a law of nature