On April 18, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Recentive Analytics, Inc. v. Fox Corp., invalidating under Section 101 of the Patent Act and the two-step Alice test patents using machine learning models. The Federal Circuit acknowledged that “[m]achine learning is a burgeoning and increasingly important field and may lead to patent-eligible improvements in technology.” Nevertheless, the Federal Circuit held that “patents that do no more than claim the application of generic machine learning to new data environments, without disclosing improvements to the machine learning models to be applied, are patent ineligible under § 101.” Although some district courts had previously found claims on machine learning methods patent-ineligible, the Federal Circuit recognized that this case presented “a question of first impression” under its precedent.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted seven requests for Director Review in the first quarter of 2025 and reported denying fifty-three requests during this same period. By comparison, the USPTO granted four requests for Director review in the last quarter of 2024 and reported denying 38 requests. The latest Director Review opinion suggests a policy shift towards more discretionary denials of IPR petitions, even with a Sotera stipulation.

Ken Berry, Winston’s CSR & Pro Bono Administrator, is grateful for all he's received and is focused on paying it forward within his community.