Decline
This test was largely done away with by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit with In re Alappat it was no longer necessary to include physical elements in the invention the presence of programmed general-purpose computer was enough. However, the result became important. If mathematical algorithm produced "useful, concrete and tangible result" it was statutory subject matter. The test was further modified by the Federal Circuit Court in AT&T Corp. v. Excel Communications, Inc. and other similar cases to no longer require physical elements.
The test was repudiated in State Street Bank described as having "little, if any, applicability to determining the presence of statutory Subject matter." However, it continued to have use in the patent office who viewed it as much the same as the “practical application” and “useful, concrete and tangible results” tests. One noted issue with the test is that it dissects the claims into elements instead of analyzing the claims as a whole as required by Supreme Court precedent.
Read more about this topic: Freeman-Walter-Abele Test
Famous quotes containing the word decline:
“Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Considered physiologically, everything ugly weakens and saddens man. It reminds him of decay, danger, impotence; it actually reduces his strength. The effect of ugliness can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever anyone feels depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with ugliness, they rise with beauty.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“But only that soul can be my friend which I encounter on the line of my own march, that soul to which I do not decline, and which does not decline me, but, native of the same celestial latitude, repeats in its own all my experience.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)