Article Abstract:
A floppy disk patent claims a computer algorithm, or a computer program implementing an algorithm, as an article of manufacture. Floppy disk patent claims should require the same kinds of limitations that the courts have required for patentability in machine and process claims directed to software inventions, and such laws may be needed to limit patent overbreadth and to prevent the patenting of otherwise nonstatutory algorithms and nonpatentable prior art. Such laws would also make sure that "article" claims much broader than the corresponding machine or process claims did not result.
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Article Abstract:
The "propagated signal" patent claim is the new frontier in intellectual property law after In re Beauregard and is a claim directed to a manufactured transient phenomenon, such as an electrical, optical or acoustical signal. The Patent and Trademark Office seems to fully support this type of claim, at least in the electrical signal context. Until the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit specifically rules on the legality of the propagated signal patent claim, it is wise to include the more conventional apparatus and method claims in the application.
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Article Abstract:
Patent claims for software embodied in a computer readable medium lack a solid judicial foundation, although they are endorsed by the Patent and Trademark Office's own guidelines, but claims for computer instruction embodied in a computer readable medium should receive patents. Such claims should be evaluated "as a whole," including the claimed functions embodied in the computer instruction. Careful drafting of claims to closely track judicial precedent and to avert unduly limiting claim construction should lead to patent protection based on prior art.
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