In re Wenkman

In re Wenkman The Federal Circuit affirmed the Board's rejection of all pending claims of the '833 application as patent ineligible under § 101. Representative claim 1 is directed to the abstract idea of bartering, a fundamental economic practice, and recites only generic computer and card or device elements at Alice step two. The court did not reach the written-description ground. The decision confirms that implementing a fundamental economic practice with a generic computer, cards, tokens or mobile devices does not supply an inventive concept, and that a specification's assertion of a 'special computer program' with no description does not change that result. Affirmed. Wenkman's '833 application claims a computer-implemented method for a business to barter groceries and other goods for a customer's silver or gold, assigning the bartered value to a card, token or mobile device. The specification says the claims do not rest on the physical devices but on a 'special computer program' that it does not further describe. The examiner rejected claims 1-20 under § 101. The Board affirmed, treated claim 1 as representative, and added a § 112(a) written-description ground. The Federal Circuit did not disturb the representative-claim designation. Alice step one: the claim is directed to organizing human activity in the context of a fundamental economic practice, bartering, with a computer used to conduct the process. The court relied on Alice, Bilski, cxLoyalty and Smart Systems. Alice step two: the claim elements invoke a generic computer and electronically activated card or device performing basic computer functions, which supplies no inventive concept. Because the § 101 ruling was affirmed, the court did not reach the written-description challenge and found the remaining arguments unpersuasive. § 101 § 112(a) non-precedential § 101 § 112(a) non-precedential § 101