IP Law Bulletin

In view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Alice, Myriad, and Mayo, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a series of guidance documents on patent subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. These documents are collected on the Subject Matter Eligibility page of the USPTO website. The USPTO’s “May 2016 Subject Matter Eligibility Update” (88 Fed. Reg. 27381), announced the newest in this series of guidance, including new life science examples, a memorandum to the patent examining corps with instructions on formulating subject matter eligibility rejections, an index of eligibility examples, and an appendix of subject matter eligibility court decisions.

The Defend Trade Secret Act of 2016 (DTSA) was passed on April 4, 2016 by the Senate, and on April 27, 2016 by the House of Representatives. There is no change between the House (H.R. 3326) and the Senate (S. 1890) versions. President Obama is expected to sign the DTSA very soon.