In Re Bilski En Banc Oral Arguments.
Oral arguments were heard today at the CAFC for In re Bilski. The CAFC had earlier ordered an en banc hearing of Bilksi to address the following questions:
(1) Whether claim 1 of the [Bilski] patent application claims patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101?
(2) What standard should govern in determining whether a process is patent-eligible subject matter under section 101?
(3) Whether the claimed subject matter is not patent-eligible because it constitutes an abstract idea or mental process; when does a claim that contains both mental and physical steps create patent-eligible subject matter?
(4) Whether a method or process must result in a physical transformation of an article or be tied to a machine to be patent-eligible subject matter under section 101?
(5) Whether it is appropriate to reconsider State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc., 149 F.3d 1368 (Fed. Cir. 1998), and AT&T Corp. v. Excel Communications, Inc., 172 F.3d 1352 (Fed. Cir. 1999), in this case and, if so, whether those cases should be overruled in any respect?
Gene Quinn at PLI attended the oral arguments, and has a great post on the conduct of the judges, the opposing parties, and the amici present for the arguments here.
Professor Crouch at Patently-O reads his tea leaves here.
Listen to the oral arguments here.
See our previous AT! post providing background on the case here.
They Invented What? (No. 98)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,406: Method and apparatus for attracting insects.
I claim:
1. Process for attracting insects above one’s head comprising the steps of:
a. securing a member coated or impregnated with an insect attractant to one end of a longitudinal member;
b. clipping the other end of the longitudinal member onto a hat; and,
c. spacing the coated member on said longitudinal member a substantial distance above said hat;
d. placing the hat upon one’s head thus attracting said insects to a position substantially above one’s head.
SIPO Search Engine and New Chinese-to-English Patent Translations.
Per this recent press release at the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China:
On August 25, Open Day of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China, SIPO launched a patent information Chinese-to-English machine translation online service, Li Yuguang, Deputy Commissioner of SIPO attended a ceremony to celebrate the event.
SIPO launched the service to meet global demands for Chinese patent information. The service allows English language searching for the bibliographic data and abstracts of the published Chinese patent documents, on-the-fly machine translation English results of the searched fulltexts (claims, specifications) of inventions and utility models will be provided as a helpful way for browsing Chinese patent documents.
The first launch of the patent information machine translation service is mainly for test purpose with an aim to collect users’ feedback during their use, which is of crucial importance for the further improvement of the machine translation readability. Technologies supporting the service are mainly developed by the China Patent Information Center (CPIC), a subsidiary organization of the SIPO.
The new database may be accessed here.
They Invented What? (No. 97)
U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,748: TV control device.
What is claimed is:
1. A TV control device for rotating a dial of a TV set, from an area distant from the set, said TV control device comprising
a rod-like member of variable adjustable length having a handle at one end, said rod-like member being independent from a TV set and comprising a plurality of telescoped sections and fastening means for releasably affixing the sections in position relative to each other, each of the sections of the rod-like member being of substantially hollow rectangular configuration;
a head part detachably secured at the opposite end of the rod-like member for cooperating with the dial of a TV set in a manner whereby a user in an area distant from the set selectively rotates the dial via the rod-like member, said head part being independent from a TV set but removably coupleable to a dial thereof and comprising a pair of spaced spring-like clamping heads for gripping the periphery of a dial, and a second detachable head post having a pair of opposed radially extending flat ears for cooperating with the slots of a dial.
2. A TV control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sections of the rod-like member are perforated.
They Invented What? (No.96)
U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,493: Retractable table top for a toilet.
What is claimed is:
1. A device for providing a working surface while a user is seated on a toilet, said device comprising:
a table having substantially planar top and bottom surfaces and a centrally disposed longitudinal axis, said table including a plurality of opposed edge portions equally spaced from the axis and extending substantially parallel thereto, said table further including a plurality of opposed end portions integral with said plurality of edge portions, said table further including a plurality of elongated legs having opposed end portions attached thereto and engageable with a ground surface respectively, said table further having a plurality of elongated support rods secured to said bottom surface and adjacent said plurality of end portions respectively; and
a support member positionable on alternate sides of a toilet seat and comprising
a rear end portion securable to a wall adjacent a toilet and extending outwardly and forwardly therefrom, and
a telescopic front end portion connected to said rear end portion and being extendable along a substantially horizontal plane, said front end portion being removably attachable to one said plurality of support rods so that said table can be selectively moved between up and down positions and pivoted thereabout.
They Invented What? (No. 95)
U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,159: Continuous wave generating apparatus for simulated surfriding.
What is claimed is:
1. A wave-generating apparatus, wherein a continuous wave is formed suitable for various
surfriding sports including surfing, boogie-boarding and bodysurfing, said apparatus comprising:
a carriage-support means having a carriage frame structure including a base frame on which said carriage frame structure is mounted;
an elongated tube rotatably cradled in said carriage support means and having oppositely disposed open ends;
a cap member mounted over each of said open ends of said tube and including an access opening;
a reservoir formed in said tube by said cap members to hold a given amount of water within said tube during the rotation thereof;
means for rotatably supporting said tube in a horizontal position within said carriage support means; and
drive means for rotating said tube to create a centrifugal force, wherein the water is forced outwardly to define a cylindrical wall of water about the interior surface of said tube, whereby a continuous wave is formed in the upwardly rotating side of said wall of water.
Pre-Office Action Interview Pilot Program.
Per this USPTO press release yesterday:
The Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced that it is initiating a six-month pilot program that will allow an applicant to have an interview with the patent examiner prior to the first Office action on the merits in a new utility application. The First Action Interview Pilot program will expedite prosecution of the patent application by enhancing the interaction between the applicant and the examiner, providing the applicant an opportunity to resolve patentability issues one-on-one with the examiner at the beginning of the review process. The program will begin on April 28.
“As we have learned from our Accelerated Examination program, an interview between the applicant and examiner early in the review process can help resolve issues more quickly and expedite a final decision,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Jon Dudas. “We believe the enhanced information exchange in the First Action Interview Pilot program will offer dual benefits of reduced pendency and improved patent quality.”
Currently, an applicant may request an interview prior to a first action. Granting of an interview is within the discretion of the examiner who has not yet reviewed the case, and the applicant may be required to identify relevant documents and explain how the invention is patentable over these documents.
Under the pilot program, the examiner will conduct a prior art search and provide the applicant a pre-interview communication which is a condensed preview of objections or rejections proposed against the claims. Within 30 days from the issue date of the pre-interview communication, the applicant must either choose not to have a first action interview with the examiner, or schedule the interview and file a proposed amendment and/or remarks.
Should the applicant choose not to have a first action interview, a First Action Interview Office action will be promptly issued and the applicant will have one month or 30 days, whichever is longer, to reply. If an interview is scheduled, the applicant must be prepared to discuss issues related to the patentability of the claims. In this interview, if the applicant and the examiner reach agreement on all claims in regards to patentability, a notice of allowance will be issued. If agreement is not reached on all claims in regards to patentability, the applicant will be given a courtesy copy of a First Action Interview Office action setting forth any requirements, objections and rejections to which the applicant will be given one month or 30 days, whichever is longer, from the issue date of the First Action Interview Office action to reply, with limited extensions of time. It is this First Action Interview Office action that is considered the first action on the merits in the application.
This pilot is currently limited to two technology areas to facilitate the USPTO’s ability to gauge the success of the pilot: applications classified in Class 709 (electrical computers and digital processing systems: multi-computer data transferring) and applications in Class 707 (data processing: database and file management or data structures).
For details regarding eligibility and criteria for participation in the pilot, see the USPTO Web site, at www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dapp/opla/preognotice/faipp_v2.htm.
They Invented What? (No. 94)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,424: Anti-eating face mask.
What is claimed is:
1. A face mask for preventing the introduction of substances into the mouth of the wearer comprising in combination;
a cup shaped member conforming generally to the shape of the mouth and chin area of the wearer’s face below the nose, said cup shaped member formed of rigid material with openings to allow breathing therethrough,
means for mounting said cup shaped member over the mouth including plural straps extending from said cup over the head of the wearer,
one of said straps provided with a means for separation to allow for placement and removal of said face mask, and a lock at said separation means to prevent removal of said face mask, said mounting means further including a hoop member of rigid material adapted to extend over the user’s head and chin and a flexible strap having end portions connected to said hoop member for extending around the back of the user’s head and a strap member adapted to extend over the top of the user’s head, said strap member being connected at opposite ends to said hoop member and to said strap intermediate the ends of said strap, said separation means including a staple adjacent one end portion of said strap, and an aperture in said strap one end portion in longitudinally spaced relationship with said staple, said strap one end portion arranged to be looped around said hoop member for insertion of said staple in said aperture and said lock engageable with said staple extending through said aperture for locking said strap one end portion to said hoop member, wherein said hoop member is attached to said cup shaped member by plural rods extending therebetween, two of said rods attached to opposed sides of said cup shaped member, a third said rod attached to a lowermost portion of said hoop member.
