Efforts underway to reform section 101
A group of US legislators are pushing for a reform to section 101 of the US Patent Act which would remove the stipulation that a patent-eligible invention must be “new and useful”.
The proposals have been met with criticism from some who fear it will damage laws which promote innovation.
Senators Thom Tillis and Chris Coons, representing North Carolina and Delaware respectively, last week released an outline of their proposed reforms to section 101.
The reforms largely deal with patent eligibility requirements. Under the draft framework, the proposals would “simply require that the invention meet existing statutory utility requirements” and scrap the existing “new and useful” requirement for patent-eligible inventions.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit which advocates for online freedom and innovation, has criticised the draft proposals, arguing that it would be a “disaster for innovation”.
In a piece published on the EFF website, staff attorney Alex Moss said that the reforms were “aimed squarely at killing the many Supreme Court decisions—Mayo v. Prometheus and Alice v. CLS Bank in particular—that have interpreted Section 101 in ways that promote innovation”.
The legislators also proposed a new list of subject matter which should not be eligible for patent protection. According to the draft framework, this list “might include” categories such as “fundamental scientific principles”; products that exist solely and exclusively in nature”; pure mathematical formulas”; and “mental activities”.
The proposals would also “ensure that simply reciting generic technical language or generic functional language does not salvage an otherwise ineligible claim”, the draft said.
“Today, US patent law discourages innovation in some of the most critical areas of technology, including artificial intelligence, medical diagnostics, and personalized medicine,” senator Coons said.
Representative Doug Collins from Georgia’s 9th congressional district, who is also backing the reform, added that “upgrading the patent eligibility test is critical if we want American innovation to continue to lead worldwide”.
There has been controversy over patent eligibility regulations in the US, particularly concerning inventions derived from natural processes.
Yesterday, sister publication LSIPR reported that pharmaceutical and biotech companies had urged the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reverse a decision which held that an Athena Diagnostics patent was directed towards ineligible subject matter.
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