DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claims disclose an abstract idea that lack practical application, and significantly more.
Under Step 2A, the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea). The claims are directed to the abstract ideas of a method of organizing human activity as the claims present a method of exchanging financial obligations.
Here, the gaming system excepts wagers from players, places the wagers into a pool, wherein credits from the pool are distributed to said one or more players based upon one or more criteria. However, this is a means of exchanging financial obligations as stated in In re Smith, wherein a casino is obligated to pay the player under certain conditions in exchange for a player’s wager. Thus, this presents a method of organizing human activity. Additionally, claims 2, 3, 6, and 7, stipulate additional limitations that are also abstract and provide furtherance of the abstract idea. For example, claims 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 and similar claims further discuss the game and thus, the abstract idea.
The second prong of Step 2A, ask whether the claims recite additional elements that would integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Here, no such practical application exists. There is no improvement made to computer technology since the claims discuss providing pool payouts to players, which is not a longstanding problem in computer technology. Additionally, there is no practical application as there is no particular machine that is used to implement the claim language, but instead and as will be discussed below only generic computers are used to perform the invention. Also, there is no transformation of the machine used in the application into a different state or thing. Lastly, the claims do not attempt to apply the abstract idea in a meaningful way beyond simply using the claimed machine.
3. Step 2B asks whether a claimed invention which fails Step 2A contains an inventive concepts, i.e. significantly more. Here, Examiner takes Official Notice, the invention does not recite significantly more as the claim language only recites an electronic gaming device, including a community display, memory, a processor, a display, and networking components, however such are generic computers for performing the steps above. Thus, the claim is directed to an abstract idea that lacks significantly more and thus is not patent eligible. Therefore, the abstract idea lacks significantly more to make the claims eligible patent subject matter.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/05/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has amended the claims to recite a community display that displays information regarding the game. However, collecting information and displaying information was found in both Electric Power Grid and Intellectual Ventures I LLC to be an abstract idea. The Court has previously determined that displays that offer an improvement, such as improving the functionality of a trading system, would move the claim language into patent eligible subject matter. However, there is no improvement to computer technology that is presented. Examiner also does not agree with the argument that a particular machine is presented as the arrangement is merely a collection of gaming devices performing abstract operations that are located in the vicinity of each other. For these reasons the claims remain rejected.
Applicant also argues that the do not present an exchange of financial obligations but instead presents specific architecture for presenting pools related to the frequency of play. Examiner does not agree as said pools of wagers are collecting wagers from players and distributing said wagers based on a series of rules. Thus, here the technical architecture comprises of the rules for distributing the pool, and the abstract idea is centered on exchanging financial obligations.
Lastly, in regards to Step 2B, the community display does not add significantly more as Examiner takes Examiner Notice that a community display is well-understood, routine, and common in gaming computer technology. Examiner suggests reviewing previously rejections and Response to Arguments as they address many of the previous arguments presented that could be pertinent here.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REGINALD A RENWICK whose telephone number is (571)270-1913. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 11am-7pm.
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REGINALD A. RENWICK
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3714
/REGINALD A RENWICK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715