DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The following is in response to an application dated on October 14, 2025. Claims 1-70 have been cancelled. Claims 71-167 are pending. All pending claims are examined.
Continuation Application
This application is a continuation of U.S. Application No. 18589447 filed 02/28/2024 now U.S. Patent No.12223547 (“Parent Application”). See MPEP §201.07. In accordance with MPEP §609.02 A. 2 and MPEP §2001.06(b) (last paragraph), the Examiner has reviewed and considered the prior art cited in the Parent Application. Also in accordance with MPEP §2001.06(b) (last paragraph), all documents cited or considered ‘of record’ in the Parent Application are now considered cited or ‘of record’ in this application. Additionally, Applicant(s) are reminded that a listing of the information cited or ‘of record’ in the Parent Application need not be resubmitted in this application unless Applicant(s) desire the information to be printed on a patent issuing from this application. See MPEP §609.02 A. 2.
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 71-167 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (abstract idea) without significantly more.
The claim recites abstract idea of organizing human activities. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application and the claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Analysis
The claims are directed to one or more of the following statutory categories: a process, a machine, a manufacture, and a composition of matter.
Claim 71 which is illustrative of independent claims 76 and 81and recites:
71. (New) A computer-implemented method for marketing, pricing and allocating new issue securities using one or more communication networks, a computer platform, at least one issuing entity, a plurality of broker-dealers, a plurality of investors, and at least one lead agent, the method comprising:
conducting, via the computer platform, one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the computer platform comprises at least one processor and non-transitory computer readable media, the non-transitory computer readable media including computer-readable program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations associated with the computer-implemented method;
providing, by the computer platform, via at least one of the one or more communication networks, offering information regarding the one or more new issue securities offerings to one or more computers associated with the plurality of investors and/or a general public;
providing, by the computer platform, a plurality of secure electronic portals including a broker-dealer portal provided to at least one electronic order routing and management system associated with one or more broker-dealers and/or the at least one lead agent, wherein the broker-dealer portal provides secure electronic communication between the computer platform and one or more computers associated with the one or more broker-dealers and/or the at least one lead agent after respective broken-dealers and/or lead agents agree to participate in the one or more new issue securities offerings, thereby providing secure and equitable access to the one or more new issue securities offerings to the respective broken-dealers’ and/or lead agents’ investor clients;
processing, by the computer platform, one for more orders, from the one or more broker-dealers and/or the at least one lead agent submitted on behalf of one or more investors of the plurality of investors, relating to the one or more new issue securities offerings, and determining which of the one or more orders are acceptable for further processing as accepted orders;
continually updating, by the computer platform, based on real-time processing of the accepted orders, an order file with order data regarding the accepted orders (accepted order data);
providing a lead agent portal, in the plurality of secure electronic portals, to at least one first computer associated with the at least one lead agent, wherein the computer platform generates and transmits first offering data and information to the at least one first computer, wherein said first offering data and information is configured for processing by the at least one first computer to cause a first graphical user interface associated with the at least one first computer to display:
a graphical presentation depicting demand corresponding to an associated new issue securities offering of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the graphical presentation depicting demand is continually updated via information transmitted from the computer platform based on the accepted order data:
wherein the graphical presentation depicting demand includes display of first graphical data of level of orders, wherein the first graphical data of level of orders comprises first indicia of one or both of value and/or number of shares or bonds or units associated with one or more price levels corresponding to the associated new issue securities offering; and
wherein the first graphical data of level of orders provides price sensitivity information indicating investor demand for the associated new issue securities offering;
publishing, via at least one of the one or more communication networks, based on the accepted order data, the offering information including information regarding the associated new issue securities offering, the offering information comprising an offering name and/or current indicative pricing; wherein the current indicative pricing is market-derived pricing that reflects current demand during marketing of the associated new issue securities offering;
based on the accepted order data, continually updating the order file and/or the graphical presentation depicting demand; continually providing updates of the current indicative pricing based on changes in current demand of the associated new issue securities offering, the changes in current demand being derived from updates of the accepted order data;
continually publishing the offering information including the current indicative pricing via at least one of the one or more communication networks during the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering; wherein said continually publishing the offering information including the current indicative pricing, based on the accepted order data, reflects current market pricing and current market value, to thereby publish demand discovery information and the current indicative pricing as then derived, via at least one of the one or more communication networks; closing at least one new issue securities offering, of the one or more new issue securities offerings, that is posted through the plurality of secure electronic portals, said closing occurring at or after termination of a marketing period associated with the at least one new issue securities offering; determining, after the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, an offering price for the at least one new issue securities offering, wherein the offering price is derived from the current indicative pricing and/or the accepted order data; disseminating, via the computer platform and at least one of the one or more communication networks, the offering price to at least one of the one or more broker- dealers and/or at least one of the plurality of investors;
calculating, by the computer platform, on a per-order basis, for the accepted orders associated with the at least one new issue securities offering, allocation information for the at least one new issue securities offering;
generating, by the computer platform, one or more final listings of securities allocation information based on the allocation information; and providing, by the computer platform, at least one of the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings as output.”
The invention as claimed recites an abstract idea of marketing new securities as part of an open and transparent ordering process helping to promote broad participating by investors (App. Spec. paras. 0001-0005) based on pre-defined rules.
These steps describe the process a person would take to determine the ‘minimum offering thresholds that the offering must meet before investor orders will be confirmed and filled’. It suggests activity that represents longstanding conduct that existed well before the advent of computers and the internet. See CyberSource Corp. b. Retail Decisions, Inc., 654 F.3d 1366, 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2011). The next step is to determine if the claims recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application.
Besides reciting the abstract idea, the remaining claim limitations recite generic computer components (e.g. computing device, and processor; see App. specification paras. 0020-0021, 0042; Figs. 2-4).
This recited abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites generic computer components (e.g. computing device, processor). The additional elements are recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components.
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. Therefore, the claim is directed to an abstract idea.
The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements - (e.g. computing device) amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the abstract idea using generic computer components.
Dependent claims 72-75, 77-80 and 82-167 provides additonal details that describe the invention. For example, claims 72-75 provide additional details about the specifics and criteria for the orders and do not address the issues raised in the independent claims and therefore do not amount to a technical improvement or an integration of a practical application.
In conclusion, merely “applying” the exception using generic computer components cannot provide an inventive concept. Therefore, the claims 71-167 are not patent eligible under 35 USC 101.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Mintz, US Application No. 20080243709 (System and Method for Dynamically Changing An Electronic Trade Order Quantity)
Vasinkevich, US Application No. 20120022997 (Method and System for Facilitating Securities Placements).
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/CHIKAODINAKA OJIAKU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3696