Appeal No. 2004-0403
Application 09/100,684
appropriate cases, to hold claims valid in order to protect the
inventive concept of the inventor's contribution to the art. The
patentee at that time usually may not amend the claims to obtain
protection commensurate with his actual contribution to the
art."). Thus, that the claims might be statutory subject matter
if performed by a machine does not make the claims statutory
subject matter since no machine is required.
The U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress "To promote the
Progress of ... useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to ...
Inventors the exclusive Right to their ... Discoveries." U.S.
Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 8. "This qualified authority ... is
limited to the promotion of advances in the 'useful arts.'"
Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 5, 148 USPQ 459, 462
(1966). "[T]he present day equivalent of the term 'useful arts'
employed by the Founding Fathers is 'technological arts.'"
In re Bergy, 596 F.2d 952, 959, 201 USPQ 352, 359 (CCPA 1979),
aff'd sub nom. Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303, 206 USPQ 193
(1980). "Technology" is defined as: "2a: applied science b: a
technical method of achieving a practical purpose 3: the totality
of means employed to provide objects necessary for human
sustenance and comfort." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
(G.&C. Merriam Co. 1977). As stated in Gillespie et al.,
Chemistry 2 (Allyn and Bacon, Inc. 1986): "We can describe the
universe, and all the changes occurring in it, in terms of two
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