Monday, February 1, 2010

PTO memo on acceptable computer-readable medium claims

A new memo on acceptable language in computer-readable medium claims is available on the PTO website at  http://www.uspto.gov/patents/law/notices/101_crm_20100127.pdf

The memo, signed by Director Kappos himself, is "an effort to assist the patent community in overcoming a rejection or a potential rejection under §101." The memo suggests amending the claims to state that the computer-readable medium is “non-transitory.” The PTO is taking the position that such an amendment is not new matter even if the word "non-transitory" is not in the spec — as long as the spec did describe the medium as *something* other than a signal.

It doesn't appear to me that this memo has yet been officially published to the outside world. Although it's on the PTO website, it's not on the page with all the other examination guidelines (here).

I suspect this is an internal memo that has been leaked, and that the memo will be made official in the near future. I found out about the memo from the IP Spotlight blog.

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