As a community service, an educational series by the

IP and Business Law Offices of Howard L. Hoffenberg, Esq.

Copyright 2010 The IP and Business Law Offices of Howard L. Hoffenberg, Esq. All Rights Reserved.

Return to Index of Tour of US Supreme Court Patent Cases from 1961 to 1999

HOLDING: (1) If a claim is directed essentially to a method of calculating, the claim is nonstatutory. (2) Form over substance will not be exalted such that a crafty drafter makes a claim statutory by adding a conventional purpose to the method of calculating. (3) For patentability, a nonconventional post-solution activity is required. The algorithm is treated as part of the prior art and the process itself must be new and useful. (4) The court rejected that in engrafted 102 and 103 standards into 101 for it is the application of the law of nature that is patentable subject matter.

PARKER v. FLOOK, 437 U.S. 584 (June 22, 1978)

 

FACTS: Applicant sought a patent for a method of updating alarm limits for a catalytic conversion processes. The novel feature was a formula and the patent did not cover the formula outside refining.

Tour of US Supreme Court Patent Cases from 1961 to 1999

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A Fast and Easy Way to Learn the High Points of Patent Law and Related Anti-trust Law

Community Service and

Pro Bono

In addition to this education series, Mr. Hoffenberg gives of his time to benefit the community and contribute to the quality justice in the State of California. For many years, he served as a volunteer pro tem in the Municipal Court in traffic, landlord-tenant, small claims and short cause matters. Currently, Mr. Hoffenberg serves as a volunteer arbitrator for the Dispute Resolution Service in attorney-client fee disputes and as a quasi-volunteer mediator in the Court of Appeals.