by Dennis Crouch
Section 101 has some magic to it. The short provision has remained essentially unchanged since it was originally handwritten in the 1700s and signed into law by President George Washington.
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
35 U.S.C. 101. But the courts have taken the general provision and given it substantial meaning beyond the text.
Senator Tillis has introduced legislation that would re-write Section 101 — taking back authority from the courts and detailing the scope of eligibility as broadly extending to technology-based innovation. Because the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Section 101 is largely atextual, the proposed amendment does not change the core text cited above. Rather, the Bill adds detail in the form of “eligibility exclusions” and notes that the broad provisions of Section 101 are subject “only to” the statutory exclusions.” In his press release, Senator Tillis indicates that the proposal “is the product of almost four years of consensus driven stakeholder conversations from all interested parties.”
Unfortunately, due to a series of Supreme Court decisions, patent eligibility law in the United States has become confused, constricted, and unclear in recent years. This has led to inconsistent case decisions, uncertainty in innovation and investment communities, and unpredictable business outcomes. This has resulted in a wide range of well-documented negative impacts.
Tillis. The Bill does not include a statement about whether its impact would be retroactive to apply to already issued patents and pending applications. If it is retroactive, the legislation would have an immediate impact on many thousands of of patents and pending applications.
The Bill lists four particular eligibility exclusions that would be codified within a new Section 101(b)(1). In particular, the statute would deny patent protection “for any of the following, if claimed as such:”
(A) A mathematical formula, apart from a useful invention or discovery.
(B) A process that— (i) is a non-technological economic, financial, business, social, cultural, or artistic process; (ii) is a mental process performed solely in the human mind; or (iii) occurs in nature wholly independent of, and prior to, any human activity.
(C) An unmodified human gene, as that gene exists in the human body.
(D) An unmodified natural material, as that material exists in nature.
These four exclusions are the only exceptions to Section 101’s broad text. The provision goes on with additional “CONDITIONS” that endeavor to ensure that the exclusions are narrowly read:
(2) CONDITIONS.—
(A) CERTAIN PROCESSES.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(B)(i), a person may obtain a patent for a claimed invention that is a process described in such provision if that process is embodied in a machine or manufacture, unless that machine or manufacture is recited in a patent claim without integrating, beyond merely storing and executing, the steps of the
process that the machine or manufacture perform.‘(B) HUMAN GENES AND NATURAL MATERIALS. … a human gene or natural material that is isolated, purified, enriched, or otherwise altered by human activity, or that is otherwise employed in a useful invention or discovery, shall not be considered to be unmodified [i.e., is patentable].
The Bill would also add a process for determining whether or not an invention is eligible.
(c) ELIGIBILITY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In determining whether, under this section, a claimed invention is eligible for a patent, eligibility shall be determined—
(A) by considering the claimed invention as a whole and without discounting or disregarding any claim element; and
(B) without regard to—(i) the manner in which the claimed invention was made; (ii) whether a claim element is known, conventional, routine, or naturally occurring; (iii) the state of the applicable art, as of the date on which the claimed invention is invented; or (iv) any other consideration in section 102, 103, or 112.
The proposed amendment makes clear that invalidity via eligibility is still potentially available via motion to dismiss.
Finally, the provision also modifies and adds definitions to Section 100 of the Patent Act:
(b) [Amended] The term “process” means process, art or method, and includes a new use, application, or method of manufacture of a known or naturally occurring process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or material.
(k) [New] The term ‘useful’ means, with respect to an invention or discovery, that the invention or discovery has a specific and practical utility from the perspective of a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention or discovery pertains.
Read the legislation yourself here.