Diagnosing Patent Subject Matter Eligibility
Dec 14th, 2017 by John Wizeman | News | Recent News & Articles |
Clarity on patent subject matter eligibility is still being sought five years after Mayo[1] and three years after Alice[2]. Further adding to the confusion is the fact that discoveries in diagnostics, despite their apparent importance to the biomedical sciences, have been repeatedly determined as ineligible subject matter under 35 USC § 101. The two step Alice/Mayo test has increased the percentage of invalid patents, and the decision by the Supreme Court to deny certiorari in the case of Ariosa vs. Sequenom[3] in 2016 means we are unlikely to see a reversal of this trend in the near future. Inventors are still finding it challenging to implement the current guidelines toward a successful diagnostics patent grant. In this piece we provide perspective from a 2016 Federal Circuit decision that provides some over-looked hints for moving forward with inventions relating to diagnostics.