Ex parte PEPPEL - Page 13




          Appeal No. 1998-2848                                                        
          Application 08/398,862                                                      

               Appellant did not file a reply brief to challenge these                
          new reasons by the Examiner.  See 37 CFR § 1.193(b) (appellant              
          may file a reply brief addressing new points of arguments).                 
          Nevertheless, we do not affirm the rejection pro forma.                     
               "[A] series of steps is a 'process' within § 101 unless                
          it falls within a judicially determined category of                         
          nonstatutory subject matter exceptions."  In re Sarkar,                     
          588 F.2d 1330, 1333, 200 USPQ 132, 137 (CCPA 1978).  The                    
          recognized exceptions are for "laws of nature, natural                      
          phenomena, and abstract ideas."  See In re Alappat,                         
          33 F.3d 1526, 1542, 31 USPQ2d 1545, 1556 (Fed. Cir. 1994) (in               
          banc) (citing Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175, 185 (1981)).                  
          The key to statutory subject matter is whether the claimed                  
          subject matter is directed to a "practical application," which              
          the Federal Circuit has said is "a useful, concrete and                     
          tangible result."  State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature               
          Financial Group Inc., 149 F.3d 1368, 1375, 47 USPQ2d 1596,                  
          1602 (Fed. Cir. 1998).  Thus, a "process" no longer requires a              
          physical transformation of something to a different state or                
          thing (although such transformations fall within the so-called              
          "safe harbors" of the Guidelines and MPEP § IV.B.2.(b)(i)).                 

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