Appeal No. 1998-2849 Page 11
Application No. 08/584,158
means process, art, or method, and includes a new use of a
known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or
material.").
The Supreme Court has identified three categories of
subject matter that are unpatentable, namely "laws of nature,
natural phenomena, and abstract ideas." Diamond v. Diehr, 450
U.S. 175, 185 (1981).
In this case, the claims under appeal are clearly drawn
to a process and thus constitute statutory subject matter
under
35 U.S.C. § 101. In addition, we note that, contrary to the
opinion of the examiner, the mere fact that some of the
process steps set forth in the claims under appeal require the
intervention of an individual (i.e., a human being) to perform
does not make the claimed subject matter non-statutory.
For the reasons set forth above, the decision of the
examiner to reject claims 35 through 74 under 35 U.S.C. § 101
is reversed.
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