Zone Dependent Payout Gaming Patent Not Ineligible Under 35 U.S.C. § 101​

The court denied defendant's motion to dismiss on the ground that plaintiff’s zone dependent payout gaming management patent encompassed unpatentable subject matter because the asserted claim was not directed toward an abstract idea. "Determining game configurations (based on some set of rules, e.g., an algorithm, list, etc.), generating game outcomes based on the configurations (based on some set of rules, e.g., an algorithm, list, etc.), determining payouts based on game outcomes (based on some set of rules, e.g., an algorithm, list, etc.), and crediting players based on payouts (accounting) are abstract ideas that can be conducted in one’s mind. At least one aspect of the process, however, requires activity outside of one’s mind: determining the physical location of the mobile gaming device . . . via the computer system. That is concrete enough to take the claim outside the scope of [Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014).]'s 'abstract idea' exception to patentability under § 101. The location of the mobile gaming device via computer is a limited, concrete, physical task. . . . The integration of the non-abstract function of determining the mobile gaming device location via computer with the other processes for which the computer is used renders the invention as a whole patentable even if certain elements might not be separately patentable."

CG Technology Development, LLC et al v. Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC et al, 2-16-cv-00871 (NVD October 18, 2016, Order) (Jones, USDJ)