Big Week for US Patent Eligibility Leaves Resolution of “Morass of Uncertainty” Still Unclear

Director William H. Milliken was quoted in the article “Big Week for US Patent Eligibility Leaves Resolution of ‘Morass of Uncertainty’ Still Unclear,” published by IAM.

Regarding the future of patent eligibility legislation following Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in American Axle v. Neapco, he said, “I don’t think the Supreme Court has necessarily washed its hands of section 101 and simply left the issue to the lower courts, Congress and the PTO. Neapco, in opposing certiorari, raised some legitimate vehicle concerns with the case — the most significant, in my view, being that the Federal Circuit’s decision was a straightforward application of the O’Reilly v Morse rule against claiming mere results, as opposed to an application of the Mayo/Alice two-step test that has bedevilled the lower courts.”

Milliken also added, “Different stakeholders have very strongly felt — and very widely diverging — views on subject-matter eligibility, to the point where I think it’s going to be really hard to come to consensus on a legislative solution.”