USPTO Issues Preliminary Examination Instructions to Patent Examining Corps After CLS Bank | Practical Law
Reflecting the US Supreme Court's decision in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int'l, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued preliminary examination instructions to the Patent Examining Corps concerning the patent eligibility of claims involving abstract ideas. Specifically, for these types of claims, patent examiners now must use the same framework used to determine patent eligibility of claims involving laws of nature and natural phenomena.