In lengthy hearings conducted by the Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property (of the Committee on the Judiciary) on June 4th and 5th (Parts I and II; Part III will be held on June 11th), the Subcommittee, chaired by Senators Tillis and Coons, 30 IP thought leaders testified on the draft legislation to amend ss. 101 and 112. I blogged on the draft legislation on May 24th: The draft bill would eliminate the requirement for novelty in s. 101 and defines the word “useful” as meaning “any invention or discovery that provides specific and practical utility in any field of technology through human intervention.” So, the only questions to be answered when determining if a claim patent eligible is whether or not the claim is directed to a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter and whether or not it is “useful.” The definition of “process” was not changed. Oh, “PAIN” is my abbreviation for “phenomenon of nature, abstract idea and natural product,” categories ruled not to be patent-eligible in Chakrabarty. It’s interesting that the “Additional Legislative Provisions” accompanying the draft legislation states that “all cases establishing or interpreting [PAIN] are hereby abrogated.”
The testimony of the witnesses and their full names titles are given at the Subcommittees website, so I won’t give them in full to save time and apologize in advance for any errors. My challenge is how to summarize the extensive, though often duplicative, testimony. I think I will try to identify some notable points and take-aways.
