A Federal Circuit panel consisting of Judges Chen, Mayer and Bryson ruled that the method claims directed to rules for playing a dice game is patent-ineligible subject matter where the only arguable inventive concept relates to the dice markings. In re Marco Guldenaar Holding B.V., No. 2017-2465 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 28, 2018). Marco Guldenaar Holding B.V. filed a patent application directed to dice games intended to be played in casinos. Claim 1 recited, in part, a method of playing a dice game comprising "providing a set of dice, the set of dice comprising a first die, a second die, and a third die, wherein only a single face of the first die has a first die marking, wherein only two faces of the second die have an identical second die marking, and wherein only three faces of the third die have an identical third die marking." Examiner rejected claim 1, and other claims, as directed to an abstract idea of rules for playing a game which is a "method of organizing human activities." The claims were also rejected as obvious over matters old and well known to dice games applying the printed matter doctrine. The Board affirmed the rejections and the applicant appealed.
In affirming the Board's decision, the court reasoned that the claimed method of playing a dice game including placing wagers on whether certain die faces will appear face up is directed to a method of conducting a wagering game that was held patent-ineligible in In re Smith, 815 F.3d 816 (Fed. Cir. 2016). In dismissing the appellant's argument that the die markings on one, two, or three die faces amounts to "significantly more" than an abstract idea, the Court held that the markings constitute printed matter that falls outside the scope of Section 101 and the method of playing a dice game does not recite an inventive concept sufficient to transform the claimed subject matter patent-eligible. The alternative arguments based on obviousness were not reviewed by the court as the rejection of the appealed claims were affirmed under Section 101.
Full text of the opinion is available here.
In affirming the Board's decision, the court reasoned that the claimed method of playing a dice game including placing wagers on whether certain die faces will appear face up is directed to a method of conducting a wagering game that was held patent-ineligible in In re Smith, 815 F.3d 816 (Fed. Cir. 2016). In dismissing the appellant's argument that the die markings on one, two, or three die faces amounts to "significantly more" than an abstract idea, the Court held that the markings constitute printed matter that falls outside the scope of Section 101 and the method of playing a dice game does not recite an inventive concept sufficient to transform the claimed subject matter patent-eligible. The alternative arguments based on obviousness were not reviewed by the court as the rejection of the appealed claims were affirmed under Section 101.
Full text of the opinion is available here.
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