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Final Report Of The Berkeley Center For Law & Technology Section 101 Workshop: Addressing Patent Eligibility Challenges, Jeffrey Lefstin, Peter Menell, David O. Taylor Jan 2018

Final Report Of The Berkeley Center For Law & Technology Section 101 Workshop: Addressing Patent Eligibility Challenges, Jeffrey Lefstin, Peter Menell, David O. Taylor

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Over the past five years, the Supreme Court has embarked upon a drastic and far-reaching experiment in patent eligibility standards. Since the founding era, the nation’s patent statutes have afforded patent protection to technological innovations and practical applications of scientific discoveries. However, the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories imposed a new limitation on the scope of the patent system: a useful application of a scientific discovery is ineligible for patent protection unless the inventor also claims an “inventive” application of the discovery. The following year, the Court ruled that discoveries of the location and …


Emerging Technologies Challenging Current Legal Paradigms, W. Keith Robinson, Joshua T. Smith Jan 2018

Emerging Technologies Challenging Current Legal Paradigms, W. Keith Robinson, Joshua T. Smith

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

U.S. patent law has made assumptions about where new inventions will be created, who will create them, and how they will be infringed. Throughout history, emerging technologies have challenged these paradigms. This decade’s emerging technologies will allow humans to create in virtual worlds, connect billions of every day devices via the Internet, and use artificial intelligence to invent across technology fields. If countries like the U.S. wish to encourage inventors to seek patent protection in these emerging areas, then a paradigm shift in the law must occur. Specifically, the law must clarify patent eligibility, recognize the increasing role of artificial …