Gottschalk v. Benson
United States Supreme Court
409 U.S. 63 (1972)
Relevant factsFree
Benson (applicant/respondent) sought a patent on a process for converting binary-coded decimal numbers into pure binary form using a digital computer; the patent examiner rejected the claims as unpatentable subject matter, but the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals reversed, and the Commissioner of Patents (Gottschalk, petitioner) sought Supreme Court review.
IssueFree
Whether a process claim that includes a mathematical formula, requiring as an additional step the use of a computer, is rendered patentable by that computer-implementation step.
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