Recent Supreme Court and Federal Circuit Cases Affecting Patentable Subject Matter

IP lawyers need to keep current with the growing body of case law from the Federal Circuit. Those decisions affect a company’s IP portfolio strategy on many levels in significant, and sometimes subtle, ways. Some decisions have particular importance and deserve a closer look. 

Please join our panelists as they discuss patentable subject matter involving DNA and computer-related inventions, the decisions and considerations for the future:

Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (2013) 

• In this landmark case involving the so-called breast cancer gene, the Supreme Court drew a line between isolated DNA (not patentable subject matter) and cDNA (patentable subject matter).

• Outlining the Supreme Court’s rationale, we will discuss strategies for moving forward in light of not only the Myriad case, but also the Supreme Court’s decision regarding diagnostic methods in Mayo v. Prometheus.

CLS Bank v. Alice Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2013)(en banc)

• Rather than the clear guidance for patenting computer-related inventions that many had hoped for, this en banc decision resulted in seven different opinions, with only a two-sentence per curium opinion garnering a majority.  The decision raised more questions than it answered about the scope of patent protection available to computer-related inventions. 

Ultramercial v. Hulu (Fed. Cir. 2013)

• In the wake of CLS Bank, the Federal Circuit held that a series of steps related to displaying ads to customers over the Internet was patent-eligible subject matter under section 101.

Moderator:

Elizabeth D. Ferrill

Speakers: 
J. Michael Jakes
Barbara R. Rudolph, Ph.D. 

Date:
Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Time:

1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT