Detailed Action:
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on January 13, 2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims:
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1, 9, and 17 are amended.
Response to Remarks:
Regarding 102/103:
The prior Office Action regarding novelty is maintained, in particular in light of the updated search and examination.
Regarding 101:
The assertion made in light of the claims do not overcome 101, however, the newly amended claims clarify enough of the claims to render them ineligible under organizing human activity instead of a mental process aided by a computer. Moreover, although the remarks by the Applicant regarding the change of technology, specifically, the change of a non-fungible token to a blockchain ledger could potentially overcome 101, the claims don’t provide the clarification of the change in technology that the remarks do. The Examiner encourages the same depth of information within the claims as the Applicant has presented within the remarks. In any regard, the rejection is updated, but maintained.
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 claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter of a mental process. Claims 1, 9, and 17 are directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, natural phenomenon, or abstract idea) without significantly more.
Part I. 2A-prong one (Identify the Abstract Ideas)
The Alice framework, step 2A-Prong One (part 1 of Mayo test), here, the claims are analyzed to determine if the claims are directed to a judicial exception. MPEP §2106.04(a). In determining, whether the claims are directed to a judicial exception, the claims are analyzed to evaluate whether the claims recite a judicial exception (Prong One of Step 2A), and whether the claims recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application (Prong Two of Step 2A). See 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (“PEG” 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. 50-57 (Jan. 7, 2019)).
Independent claims 1-20 when “taken as a whole,” are directed to the abstract idea of organizing human activity.
Under step 2A-Prong One (part 1 of Mayo test), here, the claimed invention in claims 1, 9 and 17 are directed to non-statutory subject matter because the claim(s) as a whole, considering all claim elements both individually and in combination, do not amount to significantly more than an abstract idea.
Part II. 2A-prong two (additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application)
Under step 2A-Prong two (part 1 of Mayo test), this judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application under the second prong of Step 2A. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea. Such as, “…non-transitorily computer readable medium…computer…processor…electronicdevice…audio/visual…aviatar…blockchain ledger…virtual location…virtual space scheduling computer program…Non-fungible token…network of content servers…”
The courts have recognized the following computer functions as a merely generic manner (e.g., at a high level of generality) and as insignificant extra-solution activity. (MPEP 2106.05(d))
Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea with no significantly more elements.
As a result, Examiner asserts that claims 2-8, 10-16, and 18-20 are similarly directed to the abstract idea. Since these claims are directed to an abstract idea, the Office must determine whether the remaining limitations “do significantly more” than describe the abstract idea.
Part III. Determine whether any Element, or Combination, Amounts to“Significantly More” than the Abstract Idea itself
The Alice framework, we turn to step 2B (Part 2 of Mayo) to determine if the claim is sufficient to ensure that the claim amounts to “significantly more" than the abstract idea itself. These additional elements recite conventional computer components and conventional functions of:
Claim 1, 17, and 9 do not include any limitations amounting to significantly more than the abstract idea, alone.
Claims 1, 9, and 17 include various elements that are not directed to the abstract idea. These elements include“…non-transitorily computer readable medium…computer…processor…electronicdevice…audio/visual…aviatar…blockchain ledger…virtual location…virtual space scheduling computer program…Non-fungible token…network of content servers…”these amounts to generic computing elements performing generic computing functions.
In addition, Fig. 1 of the Applicant’s specifications detail any combination of a generic computer system program to perform the method (i.e., commercially available processors). Generically recited computer elements do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea because the Alice decision noted that generic structures that merely apply abstract ideas are not significantly more than the abstract ideas.
The dependent claims further limit the abstract idea without adding significantly more. Accordingly, the Examiner concludes that there are no meaningful limitations in the claims that transform the judicial exception into a patent eligible application such that the claim amounts to significantly more than the judicial exception itself.
Further, Examiner notes that the additional limitations, when considered as an ordered combination, add nothing that is not already present when looking at the additional elements individually.
Therefore, the dependent claims are rejected as ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101 based on a rationale similar to independent claims 1, 9, and 17.
Conclusion
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ZAHRA . ELKASSABGI
Examiner
Art Unit 3623
/RUTAO WU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3623