Appeal No. 2002-0652
Application No. 08/465,072
428 (D.C. Cir. 1958). A signal is not matter, but is a form of
energy, and therefore is not a composition of matter or product.
"The term machine includes every mechanical device or
combination of mechanical powers and devices to perform some
function and produce a certain effect or result." Corning v.
Burden, 56 U.S. (15 How.) 252, 267 (1854); see also Burr v.
Duryee, 68 U.S. (1 Wall.) 531, 570 (1863) (a machine is a
concrete thing, consisting of parts or of certain devices and
combinations of devices). A modern definition of machine no
doubt includes electronic devices which perform functions.
Indeed, devices such as flip-flops and computers are referred to
in computer science as sequential machines. A signal, while
physical, has no concrete tangible physical structure, and does
not itself perform any useful, concrete and tangible result;
thus, a signal does not fit within the definition of a machine
(or product).
The Supreme Court has read the term "manufacture" in
accordance with its dictionary definition to mean "the production
of articles for use from raw or prepared materials by giving to
these materials new forms, qualities, properties, or
combinations, whether by hand-labor or by machinery." Diamond v.
Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. at 308, 206 USPQ at 196-97 (quoting
American Fruit Growers, Inc. v. Brogdex Co. , 283 U.S. 1, 11,
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