Everyone has had an "a-ha!" moment when the light bulb turns on. You then think that you will be making millions. However, before you get ahead of yourself, you have to find out if you can get a patent on your idea. By the end of this article, you should be able to determine if you can get a patent on your idea. Can you patent an idea? Depending on what the idea is, you … [Read more...]
Patent eligible subject matter
Patent eligible subject matter is everything made under the sun except for abstract ideas, laws of nature and natural phenomena.
Browse related articles below.
Can I get a patent on my invention?
Inventors often ask me whether they can get a patent on their invention. After reading this article, you should be able to determine for yourself if your invention can be patented. So, how do you know if you can get a patent on your invention? You can get a patent on your invention if it meets the four legal requirements, which are the: Utility requirement: The … [Read more...]
Plager calls to overturn current patent eligibility analysis
The holding of Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2018) is similar to Electric Power Group, LLC v. Alstom (Fed. Cir. 2016). In these cases, the courts invalidated the patent as being directed to an abstract idea for claiming an end result and not the how to achieving it. In Interval Licensing LLC, the dissent’s opinion is much more interesting. He explains … [Read more...]
Berkheimer and its ramifications on the future of software patents
The Berkheimer holding has the potential to swing the pendulum favorably back for software patents. In particular, the patent allowance rates for software inventions could rise significantly from the low levels they are at now. The Berkheimer holding sounds innocuous but the ramifications are significant. In particular, Berkheimer stands for the proposition that patent … [Read more...]
Method of treatment is eligible for patent protection versus a diagnostic method
Although Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. West-Ward Pharmaceuticals (Fed. Cir. April 13, 2018) is in the field of medicine, it could be applicable to other fields as well because in a broad sense Vanda is dealing with a distinction between diagnosing a condition (ineligible) versus a method of treatment (eligible). For example, is a method of detecting an underground leak … [Read more...]
USPTO REPORT ON PATENT ELIGIBLE SUBJECT MATTER
Basis for patent eligibility standards In July 2017, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published its PATENT ELIGIBLE SUBJECT MATTER: REPORT ON VIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC. For those in the life science and computer related technologies, this is a good summary of the various competing sides one should be aware of in developing a strategy to protect … [Read more...]
Coined term do not transform an abstract idea into patent eligible subject matter
Background of Section 101 or patent eligibility issue Ever since Alice (2014), the USPTO and the courts have to a large extent invalidated software patents. Also, the USPTO has had a significantly lower than average patent allowance rate for software inventions. The reason is that Alice caused the courts and the USPTO to treat many software inventions as though they were … [Read more...]
Risks and benefits of securing software patent protection
In the past few years software patent protection have come under intense scrutiny by the courts and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In that short time, it has become commonplace to see software inventions characterized as an abstract idea and thus not eligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. 101. As such, for software patent protection, one must … [Read more...]