Blog Post

Nov 1, 2016

CAFC Affirmed PTAB’s Decision on Obviousness of Method Claims

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There are a number of statutory requirements for patentability of inventions.  One of the requirements is that the invention is not obvious over the prior art to one of ordinary skill in the art.  Whether a claimed invention would have been obvious over the prior art is one of the most common challenges made against patents. This post discusses a recent opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) concerning whether the method claims in a patent application were unpatentable due to obviousness. The case is In re: Efthymiopoulos, a decision rendered by CAFC on October 18, 2016.  
 
The claims were directed toward methods for treating influenza infections. The representative claim is summarized below. 
 
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