{"id":64858,"date":"2025-10-13T18:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T18:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/?post_type=publications&#038;p=64858"},"modified":"2025-12-22T22:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T22:17:20","slug":"new-uspto-director-immediately-wades-into-the-101-subject-matter-eligibility-mess","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/new-uspto-director-immediately-wades-into-the-101-subject-matter-eligibility-mess\/","title":{"rendered":"New USPTO Director Immediately Wades into the 101 Subject Matter Eligibility Mess"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/101-Subject-Header.jpg?w=1000\" alt=\"101 Subject Matter Header Image\" class=\"wp-image-64860\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/101-Subject-Header.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/101-Subject-Header.jpg?resize=300,108 300w, https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/101-Subject-Header.jpg?resize=768,276 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>UPDATE |&nbsp;<em>Ex parte Desjardins<\/em>&nbsp;was designated precedential on November 4, 2025,&nbsp;showing&nbsp;the USPTO\u2019s commitment to improving 101 practice. This is only the second precedential PTAB decision relating to subject matter eligibility, the first being&nbsp;<em>Ex parte Mewherter<\/em>&nbsp;back in 2013. The USPTO, including the examining core,&nbsp;must follow the reasoning and guidance of&nbsp;<em>Ex parte<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Desjardins<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>In his first week as Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Director John A. Squires, waded into the 101 patent eligible subject matter mess. He vacated a Patent and Trademark Appeal Board (PTAB) decision,&nbsp;<em>Ex parte Desjardins,&nbsp;<\/em>Appeal 2024-000567, in which the PTAB introduced a new ground of rejection of the claims under \u00a7 101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Importantly, Director Squires emphasized that artificial intelligence (AI) innovations are&nbsp;<strong>not&nbsp;<\/strong>categorically excluded from patent protection in the United States. Merely equating any machine learning with an unpatentable \u201calgorithm\u201d and categorizing the remaining additional elements as \u201cgeneric computer components\u201d without adequate explanation. Director Squires stressed \u201cExaminers and panels should not evaluate claims at such a high level of generality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As background, the patent application in question involves claims directed to methods for continually training machine learning models previously trained for different tasks. According to the Specification, the claimed models offer the advantage of maintaining acceptable performance across tasks while minimizing storage needs\u2014that is, only one set of parameters must be stored. Considering the claims and the Specification under the Step2A, Prong Two improvement to the functioning of a computer or other technology or technical field consideration, Director Squires concluded that the invention addressed key challenges in continual learning and model efficiency. Specifically, the method improves computer functionality by reducing storage requirements and preserving task performance during sequential training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citing&nbsp;<em>Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp.<\/em>, 822 F.3d 1327, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2016), Director Squires emphasized that \u201c[s]oftware can make non-abstract improvements to computer technology, just as hardware improvements can\u201d and eligibility determinations turn on whether the claims are directed to an improvement to computer functionality or are directed to an abstract idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Director Squires\u2019 instructions are clear: \u201c\u00a7\u00a7 102, 103 and 112 are the traditional and appropriate tools to limit patent protection to its proper scope. These statutory provisions should be the focus of examination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Software, AI and other technologies often come under the fire of \u00a7101 rejections and rarely receive favorable action at the PTAB. Director Squires\u2019 decision is welcome news to applicants and patent owners\u2014and signals \u00a7101 reform may be coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the ARP\u2019s decision is nonprecedential, the USPTO, led by Director Squires, may be shifting in favor of software and AI patents. For now, focusing on the technical improvements and application of technology may provide a path forward to prevent and\/or overcome a \u00a7101 rejection, relying on&nbsp;<em>Enfish&nbsp;<\/em>and similar reasoning as the ARP\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We will continue to monitor updates to \u00a7101 treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have questions about this case or if you would like to discuss strategies for patent prosecution, portfolio management or litigation, please contact the author of this legal alert or another Dinsmore intellectual property attorney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATE |&nbsp;Ex parte Desjardins&nbsp;was designated precedential on November 4, 2025,&nbsp;showing&nbsp;the USPTO\u2019s commitment to improving 101 practice. This is only the second precedential PTAB decision relating to subject matter eligibility, the first being&nbsp;Ex parte Mewherter&nbsp;back in 2013. The USPTO, including the examining core,&nbsp;must follow the reasoning and guidance of&nbsp;Ex parte&nbsp;Desjardins. In his first week as Under\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"publication-type":[12],"class_list":["post-64858","publications","type-publications","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","publication-type-legal-alerts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New USPTO Director Immediately Wades into the 101 Subject Matter Eligibility Mess - Dinsmore &amp; Shohl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New USPTO Director Immediately Wades into the 101 Subject Matter Eligibility Mess Read insights and legal analysis from attorneys at Dinsmore &amp; Shohl LLP.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/new-uspto-director-immediately-wades-into-the-101-subject-matter-eligibility-mess\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New USPTO Director Immediately Wades into the 101 Subject Matter Eligibility Mess\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New USPTO Director Immediately Wades into the 101 Subject Matter Eligibility Mess Read insights and legal analysis from attorneys at Dinsmore &amp; 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