is a director at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.. He is considered by his peers and clients to be one of the country’s pioneers in biotechnology patent law. He has almost forty years’ experience in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications before the U.S. and foreign patent offices in scientific areas such as genomics, molecular and cell biology, recombinant DNA technology, immunology, transgenics, therapeutic methods, stem cells, organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals and polymers.
Rather than the drastic measure of abolishing § 101, such as that proposed by previous USPTO Director Kappos, we think that a simple change to § 101 that removes the confusing notion of “inventiveness” from statutory interpretation would do the trick. Our proposal strikes a middle ground, in that, while removing “inventiveness” concepts from § 101 analysis, it retains the historical exceptions rooted in pre-emption that were reiterated in the Triad.