Patent Law Weblog
recent posts
- Judge Newman Seeks Recourse from Supreme Court
- Quo Vadis mRNA Vaccine Technology? The State of the IP Lawsuits
- Moderna Settles Patent Litigation with Arbutus et al.
- USPTO and DOJ Statement of Interest in Collision Communications: Another Thumb on the Scale in Favor of NPE Patent Plaintiffs
- Oasis Tooling, Inc. v. Siemens Industry Software Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2026)
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Category: Patentable Subject Matter
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By Nicholas Vincent* and Anthony D. Sabatelli** — Knowledge of, and interest in, the human microbiome has rapidly expanded in recent years: each week, there seems to be additional advancements in our understanding of the microbial communities that call our bodies home. As investigations into these microbial communities and their impact on our health continue…
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On 3 July, the European Patent Office (EPO) lifted its stays of proceedings on cases that had been held in abeyance pending new rules on the patent-eligibility of plant-related subject matter. Following an intervention by the European Commission in November 2016, as of December 2016 the EPO had stayed the prosecution of a number of…
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By Michael Borella — When a district court judge states that "[o]ne could say this case is about a patent that claims too much and a legal test that provides too little," it is not hard to guess which way the case is going to go (the patent gets invalidated), based on what grounds (35 U.S.C.…
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An Obviousness Rejection in Patent-Eligibility Clothing? By Michael Borella — In Mayo v. Prometheus, the Supreme Court wrote "[w]e recognize that, in evaluating the significance of additional steps, the § 101 patent-eligibility inquiry and, say, the § 102 novelty inquiry might sometimes overlap." The ongoing existence of this overlap has resulted in a catch-22 for patentees…
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By Kevin E. Noonan – Most people have had the experience of becoming lost and, having arrived at their destination, realizing that it was only one false turn that caused their confusion. For those with a physics background one can recall the feature of vector calculus that a small displacement at a first position can result…
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By Paul Cole* — Proceedings for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,005,303 (Recognicorp, assigned from IQ Biometrix) resulted in an appeal decided on 28 April 2017, which decision was reviewed in this space by Michael Borella, and also criticised (see "Regnoicorp — A Miscarriage of Justice Calling for En Banc Reconsideration"). As expected, a petition…
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BIO and the Microbiome By Andrew Williams — The 2017 BIO International Convention begins this week in San Diego. This convention has become an important destination for all organizations working in the biotechnology space, but the large amount of information and opportunities available can appear daunting at first glance. To assist our readers, we recently…
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Claims Directed to Providing Financing for Allowing a Customer to Purchase a Car found Invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 By Joseph Herndon — In a precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit affirmed a final written decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("Board") in a Covered Business Method ("CBM") review proceeding in which claims…
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District Court Denies Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Patent Eligible Subject Matter By Donald Zuhn — Earlier this year, in Viveve, Inc. v. Thermigen, LLC, District Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas denied the Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) and 35…
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By Michael Borella — The textbook policy rationale for the existence of a patent system is a quid-pro-quo — a tradeoff in which an inventor is granted a time-limited property right over his or her invention in return for disclosing it to the public. Such disclosure is expected to, over time, spur further innovation, and bolster…
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