The patent appeal board in Canada recently rejected amazon.com’s patent application covering a business method
THEPATENTAPPEALBOARDINCANADARECENTLYREJECTED
AMAZON.COM’SPATENTAPPLICATIONCOVERINGABUSINESSMETHOD.
ADAMMIZERA*
LEGERROBICRICHARD,
L.L.P.
L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKSAGENTS
TheUnitedStatesequivalentofthisapplicationisUSpatent5,960,411grantedto
Amazon.comin1999forthebusinessmethodassociatedwith“1-click”on-line
ordering.Alicenseforthispatenthadbeengrantedto,amongothers,Appleforthe
iTuneandiPhotoservices.
ThePatentAppealBoard’srulingisverydetailedonthepatentabilityofbusiness
methodsingeneral.Thestep-by-stepanalysisundertakenbytheBoardto
determineifabusinessmethodispatentableornotispresentedasfollows:
a)Considerboththeformandsubstanceoftheclaims.
The“form”ofaclaimreferstoitswording(whichisthetextdefining
thescopeoftheinventioninapatentapplication).The“substance”
oftheclaimreferstoanunderstandingofthenatureofthe
inventionclaimedandadeterminationofwhathasbeenaddedto
humanknowledge.
b)Determineiftheinvention’ssubjectmattersatisfiesthedefinitionof
oneofthepatentcategories:art,process,machine,manufactureor
compositionofmatter.
c)Determineiftheinventionproducesachangeincharacteror
condition.
Underthiscriterion,itmustbedeterminediftheinventionproduces
achangeofcharacterorconditioninaphysicalobject.
d)Determineifthesubjectmatteroftheinventionisexcludedbythe
PatentAct(“Act”).
SomeinventionscannotbepatentedundertheAct,including
methodsofcalculating,methodsofmedicaltreatments,higherlife
forms,businessmanagementmethodsorsystemsand
professionalskillsormethods.
©CIPS,2009.
*WithLEGERROBICRICHARD,LLP.amultidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-mark
Agents.PublishedintheSummer2009Newsletterofthefirm(Vol.13,No.2).Publication068.106E
2
e)Determineiftheinvention’ssubjectmatterisnon-technologicaland
hence,notcoveredbytheAct.
TheAppealBoardmentionsthateachofthefive(5)categoriesof
inventionsessentiallyrelatestosubjectmatterofatechnological
nature.Subjectmatterthatisnottechnologicalcannotfitinanyofthe
inventioncategories.
TheBoardthenappliedthesecriteriatoconcludethatAmazon.com’spatent
applicationwasnot“art”assuchtermisdefinedintheActandhence,itdidnot
constituteasubjectmattercoveredbyit.Infact,theBoarddeterminedthatthe
inventiondidnotconstituteanactionoraseriesofactionsperformedbyaphysical
agentuponsomephysicalobjectandthatproducedinthatobjectachangeof
characterorcondition.
Therefore,itseemsthattheBoardisfollowingthereasoningrecentlyadoptedby
AmericancourtsinInreBilski,arulinginwhichasimilarmachineortransformation
testwasestablishedtodeterminethepatentabilityofabusinessmethod.
Concurrentlywiththisdecision,thePatentOfficehaspublishedforconsultation
(untilthemonthofAugust2009)anewversionofchapter12oftheExaminers’
PracticesManualandtheissueofpatentabilityofbusinessmethodshasbeen
deletedfromthedraft.Meanwhile,itseemsthattheapproachfollowedbythe
AppealBoard,withthestep-by-stepanalysispresentedabove,canbefoundinthe
draftofthisnewversionofthechapterdealingwiththesubjectmatterofinventions.
ItwillbeinterestingtoseeifAmazon.comwillappealthisruling,itsdeadlinetodo
soexpiresinSeptember2009.
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