Eppenauer Interviewed on Changes to Software Patent Eligibility in IPWatchdog

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Seattle Managing Partner Bart Eppenauer was featured in a two-part interview on the uncertainty facing software patent eligibility in the March 2 and March 5 edition of IPWatchdog.

In his interview with IPWatchdog founder Gene Quinn, Eppenauer discusses how the Federal Circuit needs to provide clearer guidance on how companies can pass the new section 101 guidance, which is the new Patent and Trademark Office system for determining subject matter eligibility.

Eppenauer also points out that despite the recent changes, patent owners can better prepare themselves for litigation by writing more specific patents, saying, “…Patent owners and applicants need to do their best job when they’re writing patent applications with software inventions to put in as much technical disclosure as they possibly can and then write claims that encompass and embody that.”

Eppenauer ends the second article by describing the changes he’d make to the system, given the chance. “I would really like to see a greater connection, just as we were talking about, between patent litigation and patent enforcement in District Courts and specialization at least in terms of focus.”