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 April 13, 2025. Claims 13-20 and 30-70 are canceled. Claim 12 is amended. Claims 1-12 and 21-29 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 1-12 and 21-29 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 12 which is illustrative of independent claims 1 and 21 and recites:
12. (currently amended) A method for
a. said hub entity providing real-time offering information to said global communications network;
b. said hub entity providing secure electronic portals for accepting orders on behalf of said plurality of investors relating to said new issue securities
c. said hub entity updating said real-time: securities offering information based on said orders submitted on behalf of said plurality of investors;
d. said hub entity closing an offering link on said on-line portal after termination of a marketing period, and after a preselected threshold of orders have been submitted on behalf of said plurality of investors;
e. after termination of said marketing period, said issuing entity and said at least one lead agent determining an offering price for said new issue securities;
f. said hub entity disseminating said determined offering price to at least said plurality of investors;
g. said hub entity calculating allocation information for said new issue securities to be issued for each accepted order;
h. said huh entity providing said allocation information to said plurality of investors and at least one lead agent based upon a final list of orders submitted on behalf of said plurality of investors; and
i. said at least one lead agent settling allocations based upon said submitted orders and based upon said final listing of orders.
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 based on pre-defined rules (App. Spec. p.7).
These steps describe the process to determine the offers for new securities which is a method of organizing human activities that is a commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations);
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. network, electronic portal and computer processor; see App. Specification Figs. 2-3).
This recited abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites generic computer components (e.g. network, electronic portal and computer 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. computer processor) amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the abstract idea using generic computer components.
Dependent claims 2-11 and 22-29 provides additonal details that describe the invention and do not address the issues raised in the independent claims. For example claims 2-5 provide additional descriptive details about the receipt and transmittal of orders 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 1-12 and 21-29 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.
Avery, US Application No. 20070118465, Method And System For Optimal Pricing And Allocation With Limits On Units Offered
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