Saturday, August 2, 2008

Emotions, selling stocks, testing drinks not patentable

UNITED STATES CREDIT SYSTEM v. AMERICAN CREDIT (53 F. 818 [January 1893]) Business method for using an insurance plan form is not novel. Methods of transacting common business do not seem to be patentable as an art. HOCKE v. NEW YORK CENT. & H. R. R. CO. (122 F. 467 [April 1903]) Obvious business shipping method is not patentable. HOTEL SECURITY CHECKING v. LORRAINE CO. (160 F. 467 [March 1908]) Business method without implementation means is not a patentable art. MOTION PICTURE PATENTS v. UNIVERSAL FILM (243 U.S. 871 [April 1917]) Patent on motion picture projector cannot be used to restrict which motion pictures are shown on projector. DUNN WIRE-CUT LUG BRICK v. TORONTO FIRE CLAY (259 F 258 [January 1919]) The inventor or a new and useful product or article of manufacture may have a patent covering it and giving a monopoly upon it, regardless of great variations in the method of making. BOGGS v. ROBERTSON (13 USPQ 214 [June 1931]) An idea reduced to writing (printed matter), is not patentable. GREENEWALT v. STANLEY COMPANY OF AMERICA (54 F.2d 195 [January 1932]) Aesthetic or emotional special effects are not patentable. NESTLE-LE MUR v. EUGENE LTD. (55 F.2d 854 [February 1932]) "Machine" is device or combination of devices by means of which energy can be utilized for useful operation to be performed. Patents for machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter differ fundamentally in nature from "process" patents. Process may be protected and patented only as a process. IN re WAIT (73 F.2d 982 [December 1934]) Non-novel sale of stocks and commodities business method not patentable. AFFILIATED ENTERPRISES v. GRUBER ET AL. (86 F.2d 958 [December 1936]) Lottery business method is a system not copyrightable. IN re PATTON (127 F.2d 324 [April 1942]) A system of transacting business, or an abstract idea or theory, apart from means of effectuating it, is not patentable. IN re RICE (132 F.2d 140 [December 1942]) Printed/graphical instructions for playing a piano not patentable. EX PARTE S (1943 J.P.O.S. 905 [August 1943]) Music on phonographic record is analogous to printed matter and not patentable. IN re BENNER and Mcmullen (174 F.2d 938 [April 1949]) Patentable slight alteration must be more than mechanical/professional skill. DAVISON CHEMICAL v. JOLIET CHEMICALS (179 F.2d 793 [March 1950]) Only useful application of law of nature or scientific fact is a patentable method. JOSEPH E. SEAGRAM v. COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS (180 F.2d 26 [January 1950]) Method of testing consumer beverage preferences not patentable.