2022 was a year of change at the USPTO, while familiar trends once again dominated in the legislature and the judiciary. Below are a few of the most important patent developments of the year.

Receiving a rejection for a patent application is no one’s idea of a good time. After spending hours on hours shaping a patent application that is focused, novel, and specific, you are told to reconsider your hard work and have another go at it.

Since June of 2014, Alice has become one of the most feared names in patent prosecution. Rejections citing Alice have multiplied exponentially since then, and they now account for more than 60% of §101 rejections and more than 8% of all rejections, as of our latest analysis. 

But Alice rejections aren’t necessarily fatal to an application – and we found the firms to prove it. Which firms are the best at overcoming Alice rejections and getting to an NOA? Read on to find out.

Class 705 is home to patents for processing business and financial data from big corporations like IBM, MasterCard, and WalMart. It’s also, as it turns out, home to a lot of Alice rejections.

The four years since Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014) have seen thousands of patents invalidated based on its holdings. In an update to our Alice: Three Years On review of the patent landscape, we look to see where Alice has had the greatest impact within the USPTO.

Introduction

If you’re reading this, you’re already familiar with Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank or you’re my mother. Either way, it’s unnecessary to recite all the details of the case or the subsequent aftermath. Suffice it to say that Alice created some serious doubts about the patentability of software claims, particularly as they relate to business methods.