Enablement Post-Amgen and New USPTO Guidelines

On January 10, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published Guidelines, applicable to any technology, for ascertaining compliance with the enablement requirement in view of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Amgen v. Sanofi (“Amgen”). According to the Guidelines, which will be incorporated into the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure in due course, the USPTO will continue to use the In re Wands (“Wands”) factors when determining whether claims in a patent application are enabled. The USPTO considers that its current policies on enablement are consistent with Amgen and post-Amgen enablement decisions from the Federal Circuit.Read the full article.About the authorsSeiko Okada, M.D., Ph.D.Julie Broadus Meigs, Ph.D.