USPTO-Memorandum: Guidance for Examining Process Claims in view of In re Bilski

Im Hinblick auf die Entscheidung „In re Bilski“ plant das USPTO eine Anpassung der Examination Guidelines. Die Anpassung betont den von der Bilski-Entscheidung in der Vordergrund gestellten sog. „machine and transformation test„.

USPTO: Guidance for Examining Process Claims in view of In re Bilski

Aus dem Memorandum:

„There are two corollaries to the machine-or-transformation test. First, a mere field-of-use limitation is generally insufficient to render an otherwise ineligible method claim patent- eligible. This means the machine or transformation must impose meaningful limits on the method claim’s scope to pass the test. Second, insignificant extra-solution activity will not transform an unpatentable principle into a patentable process. This means reciting a specific machine or a particular transformation of a specific article in an insignificant step, such a data gathering or outputting, is not sufficient to pass the test.“

(Gefunden über: The 271 Patent Blog)