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 March 23, 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 18231591 filed 08/08/2023 a Continuation of U.S. Application No. 17389290, filed on 07/29/2021 now U.S. Patent No. 11720966 (“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 ting, pricing [[e]] and allocating [[e]] new issue securities using an on-line global communications network, comprising a hub entity, at least one issuing entity, a plurality of investors, and at least one lead agent, the method
(a) publishing new issue securities information,
(b) accepting orders for said new issue securities,
(c) updating the new issue securities offering information in real-time,
(d) providing secure electronic portals for each of said at least one lead agent, and said issuing entity to access each entity's respective data and information,
(e) upon conclusion of a marketing period, determining an offering price for said new issue securities;
(f) disseminating said determined offering price;
(g) calculating allocation information for said new issue securities to be issued for each accepted order,
(h) preparing a final listing of securities allocation information, and
(i) transmitting said final listing of securities allocation information to said at least one lead agent for settlement, and to said issuer.
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 participation by investors based on pre-defined rules (App. Spec. para. 007 – “…by offering investors a single resource for information about available new offerings, the present invention will serve as a common calendar for all the new offerings for which it is engaged to bring to the market. Furthermore, the present invention will offer investors real-time updates about indicative pricing and order flow activity, and by disseminating minimum offering threshold parameters for contingent offerings, investors will be able to evaluate each offering on the basis of its order population (i.e., current demand levels) during the marketing period. This will help neutralize investor concerns about the timing of their order submission—earlier vs. later in the marketing period. These features of the present invention, operating as parts of a single platform, are expected to assemble a definitive sample of demand for each new issue offering it is engaged to facilitate, thereby bringing long-overdue improvements to this process and renewing wide-spread investor participation that will support the healthy growth of the U.S. capital formation process.”).
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 paras. 0021-0022; 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.
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure but fail to disclose
“(b) accepting orders for said new issue securities,
(c) updating the new issue securities offering information in real-time,
(d) providing secure electronic portals for each of said at least one lead agent, and said issuing entity to access each entity's respective data and information,
(e) upon conclusion of a marketing period, determining an offering price for said new issue securities;
(f) disseminating said determined offering price;
(g) calculating allocation information for said new issue securities to be issued for each accepted order,
(h) preparing a final listing of securities allocation information, and
(i) transmitting said final listing of securities allocation information to said at least one lead agent for settlement, and to said issuer.” Include; .
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).
Conclusion
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/CHIKAODINAKA OJIAKU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3696