As discussed in a previous blog post, since Mayo v. Prometheus, critics of medical treatment patents have advocated that such patents should be banned from patenting. While such arguments seemed futile based on the consistent position taken by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) that treating a disease or
Detecting Disease Is Not a “Tangible and Useful Result” Eligible for Patenting
The federal appeals court with jurisdiction over questions of patent law has consistently held that methods of diagnosing a disease or other biological condition violate the Supreme Court’s ban on patenting “natural phenomena.” A recent decision reaffirmed this position (in the veterinary sphere), and for the first time in many years clearly articulated the test
Focusing Questions of Software Patent Eligibility on the Specific Technological Solution and Specific Technological Problem Being Solved
The U.S. Supreme Court presented a two-step framework for determining whether a claim contains patentable subject matter under the abstract idea exception to 35 U.S.C. § 101 in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l. According to the framework erected in Alice, one must first “determine whether the claims at issue are