THE EVOLUTION AND ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUSINESS METHOD PATENT ELIGIBILITY IN THE UNITED STATES

Yijie Wu

ABSTRACT: The Patent Eligibility of method in the United States has experienced from the stages of strong exclusionary to increasing protection, and then stepped into a period of limited protection after Mayo v. Prometheus. But it seems that the decision in Enfish LLC v. Microsoft Corp has brought a ray of hope to business method inventions. Amended Patent Examination Guidelines came into force in China on April 2017 that look set to make it easier to obtain patent protection on certain method and software invention, but also means there will be new challenges.Under this background, we are supposed to improve the patent system and policy directed by realistic interests and based upon the current development in a flexible way.

Keywords: Patentable subject matter; method patent; software patent; intellectual property