Supreme Court Decision on Scope of Patent Protection - Sullivan ...

(Linn, J.) (noting that § 101 is a “threshold” inquiry (quoting Bilski), over dissent by Judge Plager), with
MySpace, Inc. v. GraphOn Corp., No. 2011-1149, 2012 WL 716435 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 2, 2012) (Plager, J.)
(“[C]ourts should avoid reaching for interpretations of broad provisions, such as § 101, when more
specific statutes, such as §§ 102, 103, and 112, can decide the case.”). In Mayo, the <strong>Supreme</strong> <strong>Court</strong>
acknowledges that “the § 101 patent-eligibility inquiry . . . might sometimes overlap” with other inquiries,
but appears to favor addressing § 101 first, because shifting the inquiry to later sections “risks creating
significantly greater legal uncertainty.”
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<strong>Supreme</strong> <strong>Court</strong> <strong>Decision</strong> on Scope of Patent Protection
March 22, 2012