On April 19, 2018, the USPTO issued a memorandum to address changes in patent examination procedure in light of the Federal Circuit's decision in Berkheimer v. HP Inc., 881 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2018). In Berkheimer, the Federal Circuit held that the question of whether certain claim limitations represent well-understood, routine, conventional activity is a question of fact; the court reaffirmed this standard in subsequent cases regarding judgment on the pleadings and judgment as a matter of law.
USPTO now requires an examiner to conclude that an element or combination of elements represent well-understood, routine, conventional activity only when the element(s) is widely prevalent or in common use in the relevant industry. This determination is distinct from patentability over 102/103 prior art. The examination procedure now requires: (1) a citation to an express statement in the specification or to a statement made by an applicant during prosecution that demonstrates the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s); it cannot be based on the fact that the specification is silent with respect to describing such element; (2) a citation to one or more court decisions noting the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s); (3) a citation to a publication (book, manual, review article, or other source); (4) statement that the examiner is taking official notice of the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s); this option should be used only when the examiner is certain based upon his/her personal knowledge.
Full text of the memo is available here.
USPTO now requires an examiner to conclude that an element or combination of elements represent well-understood, routine, conventional activity only when the element(s) is widely prevalent or in common use in the relevant industry. This determination is distinct from patentability over 102/103 prior art. The examination procedure now requires: (1) a citation to an express statement in the specification or to a statement made by an applicant during prosecution that demonstrates the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s); it cannot be based on the fact that the specification is silent with respect to describing such element; (2) a citation to one or more court decisions noting the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s); (3) a citation to a publication (book, manual, review article, or other source); (4) statement that the examiner is taking official notice of the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s); this option should be used only when the examiner is certain based upon his/her personal knowledge.
Full text of the memo is available here.
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