Source: https://www.patentspostgrant.com/tag/patent-examination/
Timestamp: 2019-01-21 20:00:31
Document Index: 295338132

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 101', '§ 112', '§ 112', '§ 112', '§ 112', '§ 112', '§ 112']

patent examination | Patents Post-Grant
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Today, the USPTO announced revised guidance for subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 (here). The USPTO also announced guidance on the application of 35 U.S.C. § 112 to computer-implemented inventions (here). The documents will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, January 7, 2019. While these documents request comments from the public, both are effective on Monday.
While this test mentions patent examiners specifically, it is expected that the entire agency (i.e., PTAB judges) will also follow this framework. (It remains to be seen whether the Federal Circuit will agree that reigning in the abstract idea step of Alice/Mayo to focus on judicial exceptions is consistent with established law).
As to the second set of guidelines, the “Examining Computer-Implemented Functional Claim Limitations for Compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 112” this guidance emphasizes various issues with regard to § 112 analysis, specifically as it relates to computer-implemented inventions. The guidance describes proper application of means-plus-function principles under § 112(f), definiteness under § 112(b), and written description and enablement under § 112(a).
This effort addresses an issue that the Office consistently confuses.