Appeal No. 96-2894
Application 08/742,974
(pages referred to as "RBr__") for appellants' arguments
thereagainst.
OPINION
35 U.S.C. § 101
The examiner rejects claims 27-32 under 35 U.S.C. § 101
as being directed to nonstatutory subject matter "because
the claimed subject matter: (A) does not fall within any of
the four statutory classes of § 101; and/or (B) falls, by
analogy, within the printed matter exception to § 101 or
within a new exception to computer programs per se" (Paper
No. 2, page 2).
While we agree that certain kinds of subject matter do
not fall within any of the four statutory classes, e.g.,
poems and musical works, claims 27-32 comprise a series of
steps and, thus, clearly fall within the statutory class of
a "process." See In re Sarkar, 588 F.2d 1330, 1333,
200 USPQ 132, 137 (CCPA 1978) ("Thus a series of steps is a
'process' within § 101 unless it falls within a judicially
determined category of nonstatutory subject matter
exceptions."). This reason for the § 101 rejection is
reversed.
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