By:  J. Gibson Lanier, Ph.D Just when the patent prosecution community thought that, for better or worse, the standards relating to the subject matter eligibility of claims were set for examination, the standards have moved again following the Mayo/Alice decisions.  On Thursday, the USPTO released its latest subject matter eligibility examination guidelines for 35 U.S.C. § 101, evidencing just how unworkable the Mayo/Alice test is from a practical standpoint.  This iteration of guidelines for examination is the third such revision and provides new examples of what may be subject matter eligible for biotechnology patents, but does not provide additional examples… Read more