SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO HOLD HEARING ON PATENT ELIGIBILITY
On Tuesday, July 14, at 10:15 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing titled “From Genes to Machines: The Patent Eligibility Debate.” The hearing will be held in Hart Senate Office Building Room 216 and webcast live on the Judiciary Committee’s website.
UPC UPDATES: THE UPC AND THE MEANING OF FEATURES
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By Aloys Hüttermann, Michalski Hüttermann & Partner
“Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one,” says Matthew 5:37. A similar rule exists before the UPC: generally, identical terms within a patent claim carry the same meaning. The recent decision in UPC_CoA_622/2025, however, teaches us that there is an exception to every rule. I quote from opinion in the headnote (original in German): “A different interpretation of an identical term in different features of a patent claim is possible if the interpretation of the claim, taking into account the description, leads to such an interpretation.” Here, the term at issue was “Umschalten” / “switching,” which the court interpreted differently within the same claim: once as “the switching means, i.e. those that enable switching and/or temporary switching (activation),” and once as “the technical requirements necessary to enable switching (whether continuous or temporary) in the first place.”
Interestingly, although this interpretation favored the patentee, the patent was revoked in part, to such an extent that it would no longer be infringed.
Whether the decision will make outcomes before the UPC more predictable, and what it all means for the redemption of UPC judges, I leave to the reader to decide.
USPTO EXPANDS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICE NETWORK TO GEORGIA AND ALABAMA, TARGETING HBCUS AND MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTIONS
This week the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced the selection of Georgia and Alabama for its next round of Community Engagement Office partnerships, building on the agency’s earlier Mountain West expansion into Montana and Utah. The initiative prioritizes HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions.
In Georgia, USPTO will partner with the Atlanta University Center Consortium (Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College), the Center for Black Entrepreneurship, and the AUC-GRANTED Initiative, focusing on commercialization and startup ecosystems. In Alabama, the agency will work with Alabama A&M University and the Huntsville innovation ecosystem, drawing on the region’s aerospace and advanced manufacturing ties to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Redstone Arsenal.
The Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 directed the USPTO to build community-based patent education programs reaching underrepresented inventors. The new offices will work alongside existing regional resources, including the Patent Pro Bono Program and HBCU-based law school clinics at North Carolina Central and Southern University.
HAVE YOU JOINED AN IPO COMMITTEE YET?
If committee involvement has been on your to-do list, now is a great time to act. IPO members can join a Standing Committee at any point during the year, no waiting required.
IPO’s 29 committees cover the full spectrum of IP law and practice. Members contribute to recommendations that go directly to the IPO Board of Directors, expand their professional networks, and gain valuable peer-to-peer insights along the way.
All IPO members are eligible, including employees, partners, and associates at member companies and firms. The current term runs through December 31, 2027, so there’s plenty of time to get involved and make an impact.
Apply today at http://www.ipo.org/joinacommitteeor reach out to committees@ipo.org with any questions.