The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has updated interim guidance regarding the interpretation of patents based on natural phenomena. The guidance stems from significant U.S. Supreme Court rulings issued in 2012 and 2013 regarding patent battles over laboratory tests. The update responds to more than 60 public comments received concerning initial interim patent eligibility guidance issued in 2014. Those comments address six themes including a request for additional examples addressing abstract ideas and laws of nature, how examiners identify abstract ideas, and an explanation of “the markedly different characteristics analysis.” Public comments on this update must be submitted by October 28, 2015. Three years ago, the high court ruled in favor of the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic in a patent dispute with Prometheus Laboratories over an esoteric blood test. Prometheus had sued regarding Mayo’s development of a similar test. Prometheus had claimed that the observation of natural phenomena—such as the results of the test—could be patented. The Supreme Court said that natural phenomena could not be patented. The high court took a similar tack the following year, when it ruled that a patent Myriad Genetics held on BRCA testing was invalid, concluding that a single human gene could…
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