USPTO Updates their Supplemental Guidance for Examination of Design Patent Applications Related to Computer-Generated Electronic Images

Since our previous communication of November 20, 2023, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently updated their published supplemental guidance for USPTO personnel to use in determining whether a design claim including a computer-generated electronic image is directed to statutory subject matter.

In a Notice published in the Federal Register on January 29, 2024, the USPTO:

(a)    specified a deadline of November 18, 2024, for submitting written comments on the supplemental guidance that was published in the Federal Register Notice of November 17, 2023; and

(b)    “corrected Examples 2, 4, and 5 in Section (V) of the supplemental guidance published in the Federal Register to reflect certain formatting (i.e., underlining and strikethrough) necessary to understand the examples.”

The corrected Examples 2, 4, and 5 are available here.