Diamond v. Diehr case brief

Diamond v. Diehr case brief summary
450 U.S. 175 (1980)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Certiorari was granted to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, which reversed a decision of the Patent and Trademark Office Board of Appeals and found that respondents' patent claim for a process for curing synthetic rubber, which included in several steps the use a mathematical formula and a programmed digital computer, was patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C.S. § 101.

CASE FACTS
Respondents submitted a patent claim for a process for molding raw, uncured synthetic rubber into cured precision products. Included in the claim was the use of a mathematical formula and a programmed digital computer. The patent examiner rejected respondents' claim, concluding that respondents' claim sought protection of a computer program for operating a rubber-molding process.

DISCUSSION

• The court noted that respondents' claim for a physical and chemical process for molding precision synthetic rubber products fell within the 35 U.S.C.S. § 101 categories of possibly patentable subject matter. 
• The fact that respondents used a mathematical formula and programmed digital computer did not change that result. 
• The only question before the court was whether respondents' claim fell within the 35 U.S.C.S. § 101 categories of possibly patentable subject matter. 
• Respondents' claim was nothing more than a process for molding rubber products and was not an attempt to patent a mathematical formula.

CONCLUSION
The Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

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