{"id":11248,"date":"2020-09-02T13:50:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T19:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/?p=11248"},"modified":"2020-09-02T13:58:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T19:58:19","slug":"can-a-dependent-claim-that-adds-an-abstract-idea-to-an-otherwise-eligible-independent-claim-be-patent-ineligible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/?p=11248","title":{"rendered":"Can a dependent claim that adds an abstract idea to an otherwise eligible independent claim be patent ineligible?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I was reading through the PTO&#8217;s most recent update to the MPEP on patent eligibility recently and ran across this statement instructing examiners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>And conversely, even if an independent claim is determined to be eligible, a dependent claim may be ineligible because it adds a judicial exception without also adding limitations that integrate the judicial exception or provide significantly more.<\/em><\/p><cite>MPEP \u00a72106.07 (Revised June 2020).<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In a recent webinar, a listener asked the speaker if a dependent claim that adds an abstract idea limitation to an otherwise patent eligible independent claim could make the dependent claim ineligible.  On the fly, the speaker astutely pointed to the <em>Diamond v. Diehr<\/em> decision.  In that case, the Supreme Court stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Our earlier opinions lend support to our present conclusion that a claim drawn to subject matter otherwise statutory does not become nonstatutory simply because it uses a mathematical formula, computer program, or digital computer.<\/p><cite><em>Diamond v. Diehr<\/em>, 450 U.S. 175, 187 (1981).<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Judge Linn highlighted this issue a few years ago in the oral argument of <em>IP-Learn v. Microsoft<\/em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/?p=9593\">Link<\/a>].  It&#8217;s a great sound bite, if you have not listened to it before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is interesting to think about how 35 U.S.C. \u00a7112(d) informs the analysis, if at all:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>(d)Reference in Dependent Forms.\u2014<\/strong>Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.<\/p><cite>35 U.S.C. \u00a7112(d).<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was reading through the PTO&#8217;s most recent update to the MPEP on patent eligibility recently and ran across this statement instructing examiners: And conversely, even if an independent claim is determined to be eligible, a dependent claim may be ineligible because it adds a judicial exception without also adding limitations that integrate the judicial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11248"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11252,"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11248\/revisions\/11252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.717madisonplace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}