Appeals Review Panel finds machine learning claims eligible on efficiency-based technical improvements

2025-09-26PTAB

Ex parte Desjardins, Appeals Review Panel decision (Sept. 26, 2025) (convened sua sponte by the Director)

The USPTO Director convened an Appeals Review Panel to review a Board rejection of machine learning method claims under § 101. The panel disagreed with the Board's step-two analysis and held that technological advantages of the claimed method, including reduced storage requirements and efficiency gains, amount to a practical application of the abstract idea where those advantages are reflected in the claim language itself.

What it changesThis is the single most useful citation available in prosecution right now for a machine learning claim carrying a resource-efficiency benefit. It works only if the efficiency is recited in the claim, not merely asserted in the specification or the response.

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