Post on 27-Jan-2021
transcript
Patentable Subject Matter -- § 101
Patentable | |
Utility -- § 101
Novelty -- § 102
Non-obvious -- § 103
Disclosure Req. – § 112
Patents – § 101
• “Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.” 35 U.S.C. § 101
• Broad; permissive approach • Threshold test; “coarse filter” • Essentially a policy question; balance
Patents – § 101 -- Exceptions
• Three judicial exceptions (Not patentable subject matter) • laws of nature • physical phenomena • abstract ideas
• These exceptions are “part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men . . . free to all men and reserved exclusively to none.” (Funk Brothers)
Patents – § 101 – Living Things
• What about living things? (Chakrabarty)
• Key is whether human made • human engineered bacteria • found bacteria • new process for creating bacteria
NO YES
YES
Patents – § 101 – Abstract Ideas • Machine-or-Transformation approach
• tied to a particular machine or apparatus • OR transforms a particular article into a
different state or thing
• M-or-T not exclusive test (Bilski) • allow application of abstract idea • worry about preemption
Patents – § 101 – Abstract Ideas • Ultramercial v. Hulu
NOT ABSTRACT
Patents – § 101 – Abstract Ideas • Cybersource v. Retail (Fed. Cir. 2011)
ABSTRACT
Patents – § 101 – Abstract Ideas • Dealertracker v. Huber (Fed. Cir. 2011)
ABSTRACT
Patents – § 101 -- Exceptions
• Three judicial exceptions (Not patentable subject matter) • laws of nature • physical phenomena • abstract ideas
• These exceptions are “part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men . . . free to all men and reserved exclusively to none.” (Funk Brothers)
Patents – § 101 – Abstract Ideas • Again, what’s the concern?
Claim 1 in Ultramercial
Ad for access to media product on Internet
Downstream invention – improve by changing ad length compared to value of media product
+ change length based on value
• What is the abstract idea?
• Do claims preempt?
Patents – § 101 – Abstract Ideas • Looking for some limitations capture of
abstract idea by one inventor • Ultramerical – Internet; media products
• But watch out for de facto preemption over abstract idea • Cybersource and Dealertracker –
software, computers, internet address, only mental steps
• Can use Machine-or-Transformation approach, but not final answer
Patents – § 101 – Laws of Nature • Not invented, simply found • Prometheus v. Mayo (at S.Ct.)
Application and transformation
• Do claims preempt any use of law of nature?
Patents – § 101 – Laws of Nature • Prometheus v. Mayo (at S.Ct.)
Application and transformation