Concerns that method patents may
be used to cover broader concepts than is appropriate has caused many to struggle
to determine what types of technologies should be allowed to receive patents.
The myriad court decisions and United States Patent and Trademark Office rules
in the past few decades alone have created a complicated thicket of patent
eligibility rules. Despite these issues some interesting ideas and
non-traditional concepts have been granted patents. While some might argue that
such patents are not appropriate, the Patent Office’s willingness to grant such
patents introduces some leeway into determining what might be patentable and that
might otherwise be overlooked.
In some cases, patents have been
issued for processes used to play card games. One patent that has reached a
particular level of notoriety (or infamy) is US 5,662,332. This patent covers a
method of playing trading card games where each player constructs a deck of
cards. The claims include coverage for “designating the [card] being brought
into play by rotating the [card] from an original orientation to a second
orientation.” Further claims cover a rotating, or ‘tapping,’ to make players
are aware the trading card is in use.
Patent protection has also been
awarded to methods involved in the presentation used in computer games. Patent US
6,935,954 was awarded for a sanity system used in a video game where the “character
may experience hallucinations as a result of the sanity level.” During game
play, the sanity level of the game character is modified based on a character
reaction and an amount of character preparation. As the game continues, game
play is impacted by varying game effects according to the game character sanity
level.
In another patent, US 8,082,499,
the graphical interface for an interactive dialog is presented. A dialog choice
indicator is shown which has a number of directional choices. Dialog responses
corresponding to a particular emotion are then provided in a consistent
location/direction.
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court
decided CLS Bank International v. Alice
Corp which invalidated claims
that were determined to be drawn to an abstract idea. In response to
this case, the USPTO has adjusted their stance regarding patentable subject
matter and has rejected many applications held to be too “abstract”. However,
this has not prevented the Patent Office from still issuing patents directed to
some intriguing methods.
Patent US 8,920,245 is directed
to a video game award method. According to the claimed method, the player is
awarded a digital gaming object while playing a first game and is then able to
use the digital gaming object within a different game.
A language-based video game
method is protected by US 8,825,492. In this method, the game display shows an
animated portion of a human head related to speech to show a pronunciation of
selected text. The text is then transformed into a non-textual form which can
be used by the avatar to overcome at least one challenge, for example, a letter
of the alphabet may be transformed into a rope which can be used to overcome a
rock climbing challenge.
In another post-Alice patent, protection extends beyond graphic
displays. US 8,721,415 covers a computer-based solitaire game with stack-based
pay table. The player is provided a payout which is calculated based on a
per-card payout award and the actual number of cards transferred during the
game.
These examples demonstrate that
patentable inventions can be made in non-traditional fields. Simply because an
invention is not incorporated in a physical object, such as a motor or a chemical
composition, or relates to an industrial process, doesn’t mean that patent
protection is unavailable. While care must be taken to ensure the claims comply
with patentable subject matter restrictions, great opportunities still exist
for patenting concepts which might otherwise be overlooked.
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