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 .
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) a method for fund creation and dividend provision using an online game competition, the method comprising:(a) receiving, from customer terminals by an asset management company server, personal information for participating in the online game competition held for fund creation, and allowing each customer to become a member, and creating a fund account for each customer;(b) transmitting, to the customer terminals by a game competition server, a request to pay a participation fee for participating in the online game competition such that the participation fee for each customer is paid to the fund account at the asset management company server;(c) providing, by the game competition server, the customer terminals with the online game competition including a plurality of rounds in a tournament format; (d) determining, by the game competition server after the online game competition in the tournament format ends, competition prize rankings of participants, and allocating differentiated dividend rates for differentially providing an investment return dividend according to the competition prize rankings of the customers; and(e) enabling, by the asset management company server, the investment return dividend to be transferred to each customer's fund account according to the differentiated dividend rates, wherein the investment return dividend is a dividend for an investment return produced by converting the participation fees paid to the fund accounts at the asset management company server into a fund and managing the fund. The underlined portions of the claim above relate to the category of certain methods or organizing human activity. That is the claims are directed towards both certain fundamental economic practices (creating investment funds) as well as rules for a wagering game. While the word “wager” and “bet” is never actually said in the claim, the user must pay a fee (akin to a wager) and then they receive money in accordance to how well they did in a game after payment of that fee. Thus, while it may be claimed in different language, it still fits within the bounds of a wagering game. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claim only applies the abstract idea to a computer and thus does not qualify as a practical application (See MPEP 2106.04(d)(I)). The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the only additional elements in the claims are terminals and servers both of which are generic computing parts that according to the Supreme Court in Alice do not bring the claim into patent eligibility.
Prior Art
There is no prior art rejection in this Office action. Currently, the nearest prior art of record appears to be US Patent No. 8,712,901 to Willoughby. Willoughby is also a method for investing in funds and paying out dividends (See Abstract). However, among other things, Willoughby does not appear to disclose “transmitting, to the customer terminals by a game competition server, a request to pay a participation fee for participating in the online game competition such that the participation fee for each customer is paid to the fund account at the asset management company server” and “allocating differentiated dividend rates for differentially providing an investment return dividend according to the competition prize rankings of the customers,” as required by the claim. While Willoughby does have a “management fee” (col. 4, lines 24-43) this management fee is not explicitly for participation in a game competition that then “includes a plurality of rounds in a tournament format” as required by the claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure can be found on the Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jay Liddle whose telephone number is (571)270-1226. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/Jay Trent Liddle/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715