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3 unusual facts about Parker v. Flook


Flook

Parker v. Flook, 1978 United States Supreme Court case that ruled that a mathematical algorithm is not patentable if its application itself is not novel.

Funk Brothers Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co.

Thus, the court held that according to Funk the manner of implementation of a natural principle must itself be patentable, as Flook subsequently held.

Parker v. Flook

A competent draftsman could attach some form of post-solution activity to almost any mathematical formula; the Pythagorean theorem would not have been patentable, or partially patentable, because a patent application contained a final step indicating that the formula, when solved, could be usefully applied to existing surveying techniques.



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