US examiners given new guidance on obviousness
06 September 2010
Eileen McDermott, New York
The USPTO has issued updated guidelines for examiners with respect to determining whether or not an invention is obvious
In 2007, the Office released new guidelines on obviousness which took into consideration the Supreme Court's decision in KSR v Teleflex. In KSR, the Court rejected the Federal Circuit's rigid teaching-suggestion-motivation (TSM) test for obviousness, saying it was inconsistent with an "expansive and flexible approach".
In the past three years, there have been several significant cases that have clarified that ruling further. For instance, the Federal Circuit last year confirmed in In re Kubin that...
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