Appeal No. 95-0792
Application No. 07/828,092
§ 102 rejection or the 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejections.
With respect to the mathematical algorithm exception, the
Federal Circuit in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature
Financial Group, Inc., 149 F.3d 1368, 1373, 47 USPQ2d 1596,
1600 (Fed. Cir. 1998) first identified the judicially created
three categories that are not patentable (laws of nature,
natural phenomena and abstract ideas) citing Diamond v. Diehr,
450 U.S.
175, 185, 209 USPQ 1, 7 (1981). The opinion went on to note
"the
mathematical algorithm is unpatentable only to the extent that
it represents an abstract idea" and is thus not "useful."
State
Street Bank 149 F.3d at 1373 & n.4, 47 USPQ2d at 1600-01 &
n.4. Later in its opinion, the court returned to this issue:
"[T]he mere fact that a claimed invention involves inputting
numbers, calculating numbers, outputting numbers, and storing
numbers, in and of itself, would not render it nonstatutory
subject matter, unless, of course, its operation does not
produce a ‘useful, concrete and tangible result.’" State
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