The USPTO’s 2019 Patent Eligibility Guidance—Two Months In: Sea Change or Business Methods As Usual?

On January 7, 2019, the USPTO issued the long-awaited 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance ("2019 PEG"), which simplifies the examination procedure using the Alice/Mayo test that Examiners—and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)—will apply to determine subject-matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The 2019 PEG "aims to clarify" the Section 101 analysis by "extract[ing] and synthesiz[ing]" controlling Federal Circuit precedent defining unpatentable "abstract ideas" into a more workable, two-prong test. With this revised test, the Office hopes to "ensure that its more than 8500 patent examiners and administrative patent judges [can] apply the Alice/Mayo test in a manner that produces reasonably consistent and predictable results across applications, art units and technology fields," so that "inventors, businesses, and other patent stakeholders . . . [can] reliably and predictably determine what subject matter is patent-eligible."

Please join us as we discuss whether the 2019 PEG is meeting these laudable goals. Topics will include:

• The nuts and bolts of the 2019 PEG, with flow charts comparing the old and new tests;
• Related Examiner Training Materials, including Examples 37-42 of the 2019 PEG; and
• An analysis of Office Actions and PTAB Decisions addressing the 2019 PEG in the first months.

Recorded: View On-Demand

Speakers:
Adriana Burgy
John Mulcahy

Moderator:
Anthony Tridico, Ph.D.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 
10:00 a.m. PDT 
1:00 p.m. EDT 
6:00 p.m. CEST

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