Gottschalk v. Benson case brief summary
409 U.S. 63 (1972)
CASE FACTS
Respondent inventors filed with petitioner Patent Office an application for an invention, which was described as being related to the processing of data by program and more particularly to the programmed conversion of numerical information in general-purpose digital computers. They purported to cover any use of the claimed method in a general-purpose digital computer of any type. Certain claims by respondents were rejected by petitioner but sustained by the lower court.
ISSUE
The question on petition for writ of certiorari was whether the method described by respondents and claimed by them was a "process" so as to be entitled to the protection of federal patent law.
DISCUSSION
The Court reversed respondent's claims on a computer program patent that was so abstract and sweeping as to cover both known and unknown uses and was therefore an attempt to patent an idea, rather than an actual process.
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409 U.S. 63 (1972)
CASE SYNOPSIS
Petitioner Commissioner of Patents
sought certiorari review of a decision of the United States Court of
Customs and Patent Appeals, which allowed respondents to patent
certain claims relating to the use of their computer program on any
general-purpose digital computer.CASE FACTS
Respondent inventors filed with petitioner Patent Office an application for an invention, which was described as being related to the processing of data by program and more particularly to the programmed conversion of numerical information in general-purpose digital computers. They purported to cover any use of the claimed method in a general-purpose digital computer of any type. Certain claims by respondents were rejected by petitioner but sustained by the lower court.
ISSUE
The question on petition for writ of certiorari was whether the method described by respondents and claimed by them was a "process" so as to be entitled to the protection of federal patent law.
DISCUSSION
- The United States Supreme Court held that the process claimed was so abstract and sweeping as to cover both known and unknown uses and therefore was an attempt to patent an idea, not an actual process.
- Therefore, the decision of the lower court was reversed and respondents' patent was not upheld on the contested claims.
The Court reversed respondent's claims on a computer program patent that was so abstract and sweeping as to cover both known and unknown uses and was therefore an attempt to patent an idea, rather than an actual process.
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