On December 15th, 2014, the USPTO released its much anticipated
revised subject matter eligibility examination guidance to assist
patent examiners to evaluate inventions that may be related to any
one of the three judicial exceptions to subject matter eligibility
under 35 U.S.C. § 101 – law of nature, natural
phenomena, and/or an abstract idea. 2014 Interim Guidance on
Patent Subject Matter Eligibility ("Interim Guidance").
The Interim Guidance is to be published in the Federal Register on
December 16th, 2014, and is to effective on that date. It is to be
applied to all pending and newly filed applications.
This Interim Guidance, unlike the prior guidance of March 2014
(see my prior posts of
March 5th and
March 7th, 2014), encourages an evaluation of the claim as a
whole. In addition, it does not consider a claim that is directed
to a combination of natural products as per se ineligible
because the individual elements separately are natural
products.
