C4IP Co-Chair and former USPTO Director Andrei Iancu recently published an opinion piece in The Hill that discusses the current confusion around patent eligibility and explains how the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) will “set matters right.”
Should modern inventions like genetic blood tests to detect disease biomarkers or artificial intelligence be patent-eligible? According to Iancu, the Supreme Court has attempted to provide some clarity on this issue in four recent cases over the last 15 years — but these rulings have only served to confuse matters more.
During Iancu’s tenure as Director at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the office issued guidelines that clarified many of these patent eligibility issues. But this guidance can only go so far. Iancu asserts that the continued uncertainty stemming from the Supreme Court rulings underscores the need for legislative action.
“It will take a change in the law to set matters right,” Iancu argues. “That’s the gap the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) fills.”
Read the full op-ed here:
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4991232-us-patent-laws-clarified/