Process Requiring a Machine or Computer Does Not Necessarily Satisfy In re Bilski's "Machine-or-Transformation" Test

Defendant's motion for summary judgment of invalidity was granted. Under In re Bilski, 545 F.3d 943 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (en banc), the court found that the patent failed to claim patentable subject matter. "Simply because the process at issue requires machines or computers to work . . . does not mean that the process or system is a machine. . . . In the process claimed by the [patent-in-suit], a mathematical algorithm uses machines for data input and data output and to perform the required calculations. Those machines do not, however, impose any limit on the process itself. The involvement of the machine in the process is insignificant extra-solution activity and thus the process is not patentable under § 101."

Every Penny Counts, Inc. v. Bank of America Corp., 2-07-cv-00042
(FLMD May 27, 2009, Order) (Magnuson, J.)