

United States: 

A Terrible Day For This Patent Applicant: Journey Itinerary Applications Ineligible Beneath Section 101


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In the scenario of In re Bongiorno, No.
2020-1835, 2021 WL 1997454, at *4 (Fed. Cir. May perhaps 19, 2021), patent
applicant James Bongiorno appealed the Patent Trial and Attraction
Board’s (PTAB) getting that two of his patent programs were being
directed to patent-ineligible matter make a difference underneath Portion 101.
Every single software linked to “arranging and executing a holiday vacation
or vacation itinerary, and more significantly to computer software and a
moveable digital unit, which may perhaps be committed to these planning
and journey guidance at the spot.”
The programs explained that tourists usually employed
constrained-purpose units, like the International Positioning Method (GPS),
journey internet sites, planners, guidebooks and multimedia players, but
the claimed invention mixed “all of the functionality of
the guides and electronic gadgets which might want to be used in
scheduling and richly encountering a vacation overseas into a single exquisite
and sensible planning/touring unit, with effective features to
increase everyone’s holiday expertise.”
At Alice action 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit agreed with the PTAB when it identified
that the promises have been directed to “organizing and executing a
trip or journey itinerary,” which was efficiently a technique
of organizing human activity – an abstract thought. Bongiorno
argued that the claimers ended up directed to enhanced technologies, but
the Federal Circuit disagreed: the declare restrictions “recited
not ‘inventive programming’ but ‘simply preferred
benefits.'”
At Alice stage two, the Federal Circuit once again
agreed with the PTAB and uncovered that the recited things (e.g., a
databases, a viewing display screen) did not amount of money to noticeably much more
than the abstract notion itself: “The features amounted simply
to implementing the summary idea working with generic pc elements
doing plan personal computer features.”
Appropriately, the Federal Circuit held that the patent
applications ended up ineligible below Area 101.
A agent assert from the applications is beneath:
A travel itinerary system comprising:
a housing
a non-transitory computer-readable system storage medium
owning laptop or computer readable software code embodied therein, explained
personal computer readable code remaining configured for arranging of a vacation
itinerary
a database of journey information, relating to a location,
saved in said non-transitory personal computer-readable application storage
medium
a viewing monitor
a processor for executing mentioned personal computer readable code, claimed
pc readable code comprising recommendations for accessing reported
databases of info on reported non-transitory laptop-readable
program storage medium, and for causing displaying, on reported viewing
screen, of 1 or far more impression screens allowing selective setting up
of reported journey itinerary
a strategy itinerary button, an alter itinerary button, and 1
or much more additional buttons configured, when toggled, for
speaking a collection, from between a plurality of solutions
shown within stated a person or extra picture screens, to stated processor,
and for allowing selective entry of just one or extra
people
wherein reported selective planning comprises actuating reported
strategy itinerary button for triggering exhibiting of a very first image
display by said instructions, mentioned 1st impression display configured for
deciding upon a 1st itinerary template and one particular or more additional
itinerary templates from amid a plurality of said added
templates, said very first itinerary template comprising a template for
entering of a amount of times for said itinerary, an arrival town
and a departure town, and for picking of one of a plurality of
graduated amounts of a tour schedule intensity, each of claimed
graduated stages of said tour timetable depth comprising a vary
of hrs for touring for every single of stated quantity of days every single of explained
plurality of extra itinerary templates comprising a respective
list of internet sites relating to a category of reported supplemental template,
with a portion of reported list of sites in each and every reported picked just one or
extra supplemental itinerary templates being used to form a full
journey itinerary, reported comprehensive vacation itinerary comprising a
sequence of websites, for just about every of mentioned variety of times, with explained
sequence of sites staying optimized to include things like as many web pages as
possible in claimed selection of touring hours, for touring at the
place
whereby claimed selective preparing further more includes reported alter
itinerary button configured for producing displaying of a customizing
picture monitor, reported customizing picture screen allowing, but not
necessitating, customizing of stated sequence of internet sites of stated complete
itinerary, using selective obtain to stated database of journey
details, for producing a custom made sequence of web pages for a
total custom made journey itinerary and
whereby mentioned computer readable code is configured for
retrievably storing mentioned selective setting up within just said method
storage medium and
a use itinerary button, stated use itinerary button
configured, when actuated, for producing exhibiting of a assistance
display screen configured for communicating with a GPS receiver for
furnishing direction during executing of stated journey itinerary at the
desired destination, said steerage comprising giving instructions to any
of stated sequence of web pages from a current area of reported travel
itinerary unit.
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