This webinar features the USPTO’s Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, a top in-house counsel, and an experienced patent prosecutor. They will analyze the USPTO’s revised guidance on patent eligibility that was issued earlier this month ‒ and discuss how the Office is expected apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice/Mayo test for subject matter eligibility going forward.
The new guidance supersedes conflicting sections in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, prior guidance, and prior memoranda. The panel will elucidate the key ways the new guidance is expected to impact criteria and procedures. In addition, the panel will explore:
- What some see as remaining ambiguities in the guidance, such as the determination of what constitutes a “practical application”
- Arguments that could be made to examiners based on the new guidance
- How to best make a request to file supplemental briefing to show how claims are compliant with the new guidance
- The challenges the USPTO faces in interpreting Federal Circuit case law on this topic
Speakers:
- Robert Bahr, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Gary Ganzi, Evoqua Water Technologies
- Michelle Holoubek, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC
