The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued new guidance this month on nature-based products. The new document is a revision of a guidance released in March stating that to be eligible for patents, such inventions must be “significantly different” and show structural differences from natural products (see IBO 7/15/14). Feedback from stakeholders claiming that the criteria were too stringent prompted the USPTO’s latest guidance. The newly proposed standard would allow inventions to proceed in the patent process if their claims would not preclude others’ use of the natural products or processes on which they were based. Inventions may also be eligible if they differ in “structure, function and/or other properties” from the natural products. However, there are some uncertainties in what is sufficiently different to be considered patent eligible. The USPTO may further revise its guidance based on continued feedback.

Source: Science