Interim Method Examination Guidelines

In a recent notice, the USPTO has given the public until July 31, 2006 to provide comments on the PTO’s proposed guidelines for determining whether an invention is “patentable subject matter.”  This delay is intended to give the public a chance to react to the upcoming Supreme Court decision in LabCorp v. Metabolite. That decision is expected to discuss the patentability of various “methods” including business methods.

Links:

• Discussion of Interim Guidelines
• Interim Guidelines
• Discussion of the Metabolite case