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從史密斯案一窺PTAB如何操作適格指導
September 16, 2019
​美國專利局已釋出2019專利標的適格審查指導修正(以下簡稱「2019適格指導」),期盼以更明快的2019適格指導,更加統一並且明確化今後的專利局適格審查標準。詳細請見:搭上美國專利局澄清專利適格的便車:簡評最新重大35 U.S.C. 101 適格指導。
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2019適格指導頒布之後,美國專利審理暨訴願委員會(Patent Trial and Appeal Board,以下簡稱PTAB)已將之具體適用於Ex parte Smith訴願案(以下簡稱「史密斯案」)的訴願決定[1]中,推翻了原先審查委員專利標的不適格的裁定,並將史密斯案決定列為參考決定(informative decision)。
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史密斯專利申請案代表圖(美國專利申請號US13/715,476)。

史密斯案的權利項 1 如以下所示。PTAB認為不足以與足以將權利項整併入實際應用的文字分別以斜體與粗體標明。
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1.  A method of trading derivatives in a hybrid exchange system comprising:
  • collecting orders, via a communication network and order routing system, for derivatives and placing them in an electronic book database;
  • identifying at an electronic trade engine a new quote from a first in-crowd market participant, wherein one of a bid or an offer price in the new quote matches a respective price in an order in the electronic book database from a public customer;
  • removing at least a portion of the order in the electronic book database, delaying automatic execution of the new quote and the order, and starting a timer; reporting, via the communication network and an electronic reporting system, a market quote indicative of execution of the at least a portion of the order while delaying automatic execution;
  • receiving at the electronic trade engine a second quote from a second in-crowd market participant after receiving the new quote from the first in-crowd market participant and before an expiration of the timer, wherein the second quote matches the respective price of the public customer order in the electronic book database; and
  • allocating the order between the first and second in-crowd market participants at the electronic trade engine, wherein the order is not executed until expiration of the timer.
史密斯案提供了至少兩點值得發明人加以注意。首先,PTAB對於斜體與粗體部分具體與否的判斷標準,再次說明了說明書與權利項的連結與補充關係,以及專利說明書撰寫在問題辨識與具體元件細節上的重要性。
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其次,本案顯示權利項在以特定具體方式,直接銜合所針對的問題的時候,PTAB願意肯定其專利適格性。史密斯案的權利項文字細化到使得計時器的使用不會廣泛存在於每一筆交易上,而是在特定的情形下,當所針對的問題發生的時候。亦即,若欲克服35 U.S.C. 101問題,權利項文字應使用差異化,細緻化的方式,呈現問題-解決方案的密切連結關係。​CIPO

[1] Ex Parte Smith (Feb. 1, 2019), https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fd2018-000064.pdf
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