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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 9, 2026 has been entered.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-20 were previously pending. Claim 14 was amended in the reply filed January 9, 2026. Claims 1-20 are currently pending, of which claims 1-13 are withdrawn from consideration.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to the rejection made under § 101 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant analogizes the claims to those held to be plausibly eligible in Weisner v. Google, 51 F. 4th 1073 (Fed. Cir. 2022) because they provide "a specific Internet-centric solution to generating recommendations based on user metrics and profile elements via a machine learning model." Remarks, 12. Although Applicant notes "the requisite computer implementation of a machine learning model" (Remarks, 12), "patents that do no more than claim the application of generic machine learning to new data environments, without disclosing improvements to the machine learning models to be applied, are patent ineligible under § 101." Recentive Analytics, Inc. v. Fox. Corp., Fed Cir. No. 2023-2437 (Apr. 18, 2025) (slip op. at 18) (emphasis added).
"Moreover, the ticketing suggestion system of the present invention moves beyond the claimed machine learning model. The system additionally generates a plurality of matches based on one or more common elements between user profiles, just as Weisner generates matches between searching persons and reference individuals based on one or more common elements of their location history." Remarks, 12. Weisner determined that the invention was plausibly eligible (the decision was reviewing a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, where the court construed all reasonable inferences in favor of Mr. Weisner, rather than the preponderance of the evidence standard used in UPSTO proceedings—see MPEP 706 I.) because it "is also alleged to solve a problem particular to the Internet" similar to DDR Holdings. Slip op., pg. 22 (emphasis added). This is not the case here, as applying Applicant's methodology would equally apply to non-Internet ticket purchase suggestions.
Weisner does not stand for the proposition that the matching of people with common elements is an eligible improvement. See Trinity Info Media, LLC v. Covalent, Inc., No. 2022-1308 (Fed. Cir. July 14, 2023) (matching users based on profiles and responses to questions on a computer held to be ineligible). "Just as Weisner uses its matches to return more tailored and personalized search results, the present invention uses its matches to provide more accurate suggested events to users." Remarks, 13. Tailoring sales information presented to a user based on their navigation histories was held to be ineligible in Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank, 792 F. 3d 1363 (Fed Cir. 2015).
Applicant also argues that the claims recite "significantly more" than the abstract idea. "Applicant respectfully submits that the test for eligibility applied by the court of BASCOM did not rely specifically on BASCOM's 'computer-centric network controls' but instead identified that 'an inventive concept can be found in the ordered combination of claim limitations that transform the abstract idea of filtering content into a particular, practical application of that abstract idea.' BASCOM at 1361." Remarks, 14-18. In making the determination of eligibility the court relied on the specification of the patent at issue in BASCOM to determine that the claims overcame four specific problems including the problem that current filtering software was vulnerable to a computer literate end user. In the instant case, the claims to not offer an improvement in computer technology similar to the claims found eligible in BASCOM. All of the limitations highlighted by Applicant here (see Remarks, 15-16) amount to nothing more than determining even tickets for people via generic computers. Accordingly, the rejection is 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 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter (abstract idea without significantly more). Claims are eligible for patent protection under § 101 if they are in one of the four statutory categories and not directed to a judicial exception to patentability. Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014). Claims 14-20, each considered as a whole and as an ordered combination, are directed to a judicial exception (i.e., an abstract idea) without significantly more.
MPEP 2106 Step 2A – Prong 1:
The claims recite an abstract idea reflected in the representative functions of the independent claims—including:
store a plurality of user profiles;
generate a plurality of matches between at least one first user profile of the plurality of user profiles and at least one second user profile of the plurality of user profiles based on at least one profile element common to both the at least one first profile and the at least one second profile;
provide an indication of suggested upcoming live events based on attendance records of one or more profiles of the plurality of matches and pattern matching against a browsing history and/or social media activity;
select a subset of the plurality of user profiles based on at least one shared profile element of the subset of the plurality of user profiles;
receive desired price ranges from the subset of the plurality of user profiles via a group communication;
determine an available selection of tickets for the assigned event based on the predetermined price ranges;
reserve and/or purchase the available selection of tickets;
convert reserved and/or purchased tickets of a file type into reserved and/or purchased tickets of a ticket identifier, wherein the ticket identifier comprises a unique identifier and an associated user account;
assign multiple user profiles with reserved tickets to a seat sharing plan;
wherein the multiple user profiles assigned to the seat sharing plan are selected based on positions of the reserved and/or purchased tickets and/or price range of the reserved and/or purchased tickets;
transmit a first ticket from the reserved and/or purchased tickets valid for a first time period within the assigned event to each of the multiple user profiles in the seat sharing plan;
upon expiry of the first time period, delete the first ticket from each of the multiple user profiles in the seat sharing plan and transmits a second ticket from the reserved and/or purchased tickets valid for a second time period within the assigned event to each of the multiple user profiles in the seat sharing plan;
determine at least one unfilled seat in a venue based on scanned ticket data and/or video analysis of the at least one unfilled seat; and
transmit at least one upgraded ticket for the at least one unfilled seat to at least one of the multiple user profiles.
These limitations taken together qualify as a certain method of organizing human activities because they recite collecting, analyzing, and outputting information for planning the event attendance behaviors of groups of people and performing the related commercial/financial transactions (i.e., in the terminology of the 2019 Revised Guidance, commercial interactions (including marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations); managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities).
It shares similarities with other abstract ideas held to be non-statutory by the courts (see Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2015)—tailoring sales information presented to a user based on, e.g., user data or time data, similar because at another level of abstraction the claims could be characterized as tailoring ticket sales information presented to a user based on, e.g., group communication data or price range data; Smart Sys. Innovations v. Chicago Transit Authority, 873 F.3d 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2017)—formation of financial transactions in a particular field (i.e., mass transit) and data collection related to such transactions, similar because at another level of abstraction the claims could be characterized as formation of financial transactions in a particular field (i.e., event tickets) and data collection related to such transactions).
These cases describe significantly similar aspects of the claimed invention, albeit at another level of abstraction. See Apple, Inc. v. Ameranth, Inc., 842 F.3d 1229, 1240-41 (Fed. Cir. 2016) ("An abstract idea can generally be described at different levels of abstraction. As the Board has done, the claimed abstract idea could be described as generating menus on a computer, or generating a second menu from a first menu and sending the second menu to another location. It could be described in other ways, including, as indicated in the specification, taking orders from restaurant customers on a computer.").
MPEP 2106 Step 2A – Prong 2:
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because there are no meaningful limitations that transform the exception into a patent eligible application. The elements merely serve to provide a general link to a technological environment (e.g., computers and the Internet) in which to carry out the judicial exception (server computer including a memory with at least one database; internet messaging platform; wherein the at least one server computer is in network communication with a plurality of devices; communication connection; broadly performing steps "automatically;" "digital" tickets; machine learning model—all recited at a high level of generality).
The claims also recite to train a machine learning model based on records of previously purchased tickets, previous attendance, and/or indications of interest of the plurality of user profiles. This limitation describes using generic machine learning on new preferred data without setting forth any technological improvements. At the high level of generality set forth, the technical aspects of machine learning here are generic because they could be used across a multitude of data environments. Moreover, the claims do not set forth any improvements to machine learning itself, and instead use it as a tool to perform an abstract function (i.e., coordinating a ticketed group event among people). "[P]atents that do no more than claim the application of generic machine learning to new data environments, without disclosing improvements to the machine learning models to be applied, are patent ineligible under § 101." Recentive Analytics, Inc. v. Fox. Corp., Fed Cir. No. 2023-2437 (Apr. 18, 2025) (slip op. at 18). "The requirements that the machine learning model be ‘iteratively trained’ or dynamically adjusted in the Machine Learning Training patents do not represent a technological improvement" because "[i|terative training using selected training material and dynamic adjustments based on real-time changes are incident to the very nature of machine learning." Id. at 12 (emphasis added).
Although the claims have and execute instructions to perform the abstract idea itself (e.g., modules, program code, etc. to automate the abstract idea), this also does not serve to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application as it merely amounts to instructions to "apply it." Aside from such instructions to implement the abstract idea, they are solely used for generic computer operations (e.g., receiving, storing, retrieving, transmitting data), employing the computer as a tool. See FairWarning IP, LLC v. Iatric Sys., Inc., 839 F.3d 1089, 1096 (Fed. Cir. 2016) ("[T]he use of generic computer elements like a microprocessor or user interface do not alone transform an otherwise abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter.") (citing DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., 773 F.3d 1245,1256 (Fed. Cir. 2014)) (emphasis added).
The claims only manipulate abstract data elements into another form. They do not set forth improvements to another technological field or the functioning of the computer itself and instead use computer elements as tools to improve the functioning of the abstract idea identified above. Looking at the additional limitations and abstract idea as an ordered combination and as a whole adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology. Rather than any meaningful limits, their collective functions merely provide generic computer implementation of the abstract idea identified in Prong One. None of the additional elements recited "offers a meaningful limitation beyond generally linking 'the use of the [method] to a particular technological environment,' that is, implementation via computers." Alice Corp., slip op. at 16 (citing Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 610, 611 (U.S. 2010)).
At the levels of abstraction described above, the claims do not readily lend themselves to a finding that they are directed to a nonabstract idea. Therefore, the analysis proceeds to step 2B. See BASCOM Global Internet v. AT&T Mobility LLC, 827 F.3d 1341, 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2016) ("The Enfish claims, understood in light of their specific limitations, were unambiguously directed to an improvement in computer capabilities. Here, in contrast, the claims and their specific limitations do not readily lend themselves to a step-one finding that they are directed to a nonabstract idea. We therefore defer our consideration of the specific claim limitations’ narrowing effect for step two.") (citations omitted).
MPEP 2106 Step 2B:
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons as presented in Step 2A Prong 2 (i.e., they amount to nothing more than a general link to a particular technological environment and instructions to apply it there). Moreover, the additional elements recited are known and conventional computing elements (server computer including a memory with at least one database; internet messaging platform; wherein the at least one server computer is in network communication with a plurality of devices; communication connection; broadly performing steps "automatically;" "digital" tickets; machine learning model—see published Specification ¶¶ 0066, 68, 85, 123, 127, 129, 138 describing these at a high level of generality and in a manner that indicates that the additional elements are sufficiently well-known that the specification does not need to describe the particulars of such additional elements to satisfy the statutory disclosure requirements).
The claims also recite to train a machine learning model based on records of previously purchased tickets, previous attendance, and/or indications of interest of the plurality of user profiles. This does not set forth "significantly more" for the same reasons that it does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Moreover, the disclosure supports that the training is conventional by its brief mention in ¶ 0066 without any appreciable technical specificity, as well as its invention by another entity ("Examples of artificial intelligence algorithms and related processes applicable to this embodiment of the present invention are described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,922,286, to inventor Hazard, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.").
The Federal Circuit has recognized that "an invocation of already-available computers that are not themselves plausibly asserted to be an advance, for use in carrying out improved mathematical calculations, amounts to a recitation of what is 'well-understood, routine, [and] conventional.'" SAP Am., Inc. v. InvestPic, LLC, 890 F.3d 1016, 1023 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (alteration in original) (citing Mayo v. Prometheus, 566 U.S. 66, 73 (2012)). Apart from the instructions to implement the abstract idea, they only serve to perform well-understood functions (e.g., receiving, storing, retrieving, transmitting data—see Specification above as well as Alice Corp.; Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F.3d 1307 (Fed. Cir. 2016); and Versata Dev. Group, Inc. v. SAP Am., Inc., 793 F.3d 1306, 1334 (Fed. Cir. 2015) covering the well-known nature of these basic computer functions).
"The use and arrangement of conventional and generic computer components recited in the claims—such as a database, user terminal, and server— do not transform the claim, as a whole, into 'significantly more' than a claim to the abstract idea itself. We have repeatedly held that such invocations of computers and networks that are not even arguably inventive are insufficient to pass the test of an inventive concept in the application of an abstract idea." Credit Acceptance Corp. v. Westlake Services, 859 F.3d 1044, 1056 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (citations and quotation marks omitted). Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology. Their collective functions merely provide conventional computer implementation.
Dependent Claims Step 2A:
The limitations of the dependent claims but for those addressed below merely set forth further refinements of the abstract idea without changing the analysis already presented (i.e., they merely narrow the same abstract idea identified above without adding any new additional elements beyond it). Additionally, for the same reasons as above, the limitations fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they use the same general technological environment and instructions to implement the abstract idea as the independent claims (i.e., a generic server). Claim 17 adds an external ticketing system and claim 20 adds a generic artificial intelligence module. These merely serve to further limit the general link of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment and using computers as tools at a high level to perform purely abstract activities.
Dependent Claims Step 2B:
The dependent claims merely use the same general technological environment and instructions to implement the abstract idea. Although they add the elements identified in 2A above (external ticketing system, artificial intelligence module), these do not amount to significantly more for the same reasons they fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Moreover, the Specification also indicates this is the routine use of known components for the same reasons presented with respect to the elements in the independent claims above (see ¶¶ 0064-65, 104) describing these at a high level of generality and without any appreciable technical specifics). Accordingly, they are not directed to significantly more than the exception itself, and are not eligible subject matter under § 101.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL VETTER whose telephone number is (571)270-1366. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00.
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/DANIEL VETTER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628