Freeman-Walter-Abele Test

Freeman-Walter-Abele Test

Freeman-Walter-Abele is an outdated judicial test in United States patent law. It came from decisions concerning software patents. It was used to determine if mathematical principles or algorithms were patentable subject matter. The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals introduced and refined these test under the constraint that the U.S. Supreme Court found algorithms unpatentable. The aim was to allow claims that do not attempt to monopolize traditionally unpatentable subject matter, such as, mathematics, thinking, and laws of nature. Though primarily concerned with mathematical algorithms the test has some applicability in all subject matter discussions. Its use faded between 1992 and 1999 and was dead by 2008. See In re Freeman, 573 F.2d 1237 (C.C.P.A. 1978); In re Walter, 618 F.2d 758 (C.C.P.A. 1980); In re Abele, 684 F.2d 902 (C.C.P.A. 1982).