Biotech Values

[genisi]

The “machine-or-transformation” test is not dead - Justice Steven’s concurrence states that this test is “a critical clue.” However, what we are left with after the Supreme Court’s decision is a collection of past statements that alone or taken as a whole provide no clear boundaries as to subject matter patentability under 35 USC § 101. The Supreme Court, in simply removing the layer of law added by the Federal Circuit, and not providing further analysis, seems to be inviting the Federal Circuit to try again: “we by no means foreclose the Federal Circuit’s development of other limiting criteria that further the purposes of the Patent Act …” (slip opinion at 16).