New From The PTO: Guidance On “Laws Of Nature” And A Smoother Patent Highway

Earlier this month the U.S. Patent and Trademark office released detailed guidance to aid examiners in deciding whether or not a patent application is directed to “laws of nature” and is thereby ineligible. This guidance sorts out some of the issues addressed by two recent Supreme Court decisions, Mayo v. Prometheus in 2012 and the Myriad decision from 2013. And, in an action taken in January of this year, the USPTO launched two new pilot programs that should simplify the “Patent Prosecution Highway” process for coordinating U.S. and foreign patents.