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Bilski: Assessing The Impact Of A Newly Invigorated Patent Eligibility Doctrine On The Pharmaceutical Industry And The Future Of Personalized Medicine, Christopher M. Holman
Bilski: Assessing The Impact Of A Newly Invigorated Patent Eligibility Doctrine On The Pharmaceutical Industry And The Future Of Personalized Medicine, Christopher M. Holman
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The patent eligibility doctrine serves a gatekeeper role in excluding from patent protection natural phenomena, principles of nature, abstract ideas, and mental processes. Beginning around 1980, the U.S. patent system embarked upon a pronounced expansion in its definition of patent eligible subject matter, particularly with respect to software and business method inventions, but also in the life sciences. In recent years, however, we have seen a backlash, with many critics from the public and private sectors arguing that the threshold for patent eligibility needs to be raised in order to ensure that patents fulfill their constitutional objective of encouraging innovation …
The Role Of Patent Eligibility In Policing Claim Scope, Christopher M. Holman
The Role Of Patent Eligibility In Policing Claim Scope, Christopher M. Holman
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Bilski v. Kappos (Bilski II) empowered the lower courts to deploy patent eligibility as a doctrinal tool for policing claim scope. Because Bilski II leaves the test for patent eligibility largely undefined, the lower courts and PTO, in particular the Federal Circuit, could actively invoke the doctrine as a “wildcard” to invalidate patent claims deemed unduly broad, or otherwise “unworthy” by the court. Judge Rader made a similar observation recently with respect to the Lilly written description requirement, another doctrine of patentability for which the criteria for compliance remains largely undefined. However, early indications suggest that the Federal Circuit and …