Minor PTAB Rule Change & New 101 Guidelines

Last week, the PTAB issued a minor change to the AIA Trial Rules that became effective last Monday, May 2nd.  

The second sentence of § 42.24(a)(1) was changed to state that the word count or page limit does not include a table of contents, a table of authorities, mandatory notices under § 42.8, a certificate of service or word count, or appendix of exhibits or claim listing. That is, the previous reference to “grounds for standing under § 42.104, § 42.204, or § 42.304” was inadvertently included as administrative items, such as mandatory notices, and in the related discussion in the preamble on pages 18762 and 18763 of the final rule published on April 1, 2016. The correction removes that reference from § 42.24(a)(1).

Also, today, the USPTO will issue new section 101 guidance (here).  New life sciences examples can also be found on the USPTO web page (here)