Patent Drafting for Cryptocurrency Innovations: Overcoming Eligibility Challenges, Minimizing the Risks of Rejection

Description

Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in new patent application filings directed to blockchain and cryptocurrency inventions. Those in the increasingly crowded crypto space need to realize that crypto-related inventions face challenges.

Among those challenges is overcoming the subject matter eligibility hurdle. As with many software-related patents, patent eligibility is not always apparent. Patent practitioners and applicants have struggled since the Supreme Court's decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l (2014) to understand what qualifies as an abstract idea. Effective patent drafters will avoid language that raises questions of whether the human mind could perform the claim, another factor in determining patent eligibility.

Once crypto-related patents have overcome the eligibility hurdle, they must meet the novelty, non-obviousness, and written description/enablement requirements of Sections 102, 103, and 112, like other U.S. patents. Drafters need to demonstrate that the invention goes beyond a mere abstract idea.

Listen as our authoritative panel of patent attorneys examines prosecuting cryptocurrency-related patents. The panel will discuss steps to reduce the likelihood of rejection and strategies for effectively drafting patent applications. The panel will also look at litigation trends and how they inform patent prosecution enforcement.