Posted On: November 19, 2008, 8:25 am CST

Posted By: Anne Nonymous

Thank you, Inscopywriter, for your clarification to Wudchuck. That was a helpful distinction you offered (between patentable ideas and copywritable/trademark protectable words).

Would you, or any other IP experts out there, happen to know if the use of the Internet as part of a potentially patentable process would qualify as either a "machine" (electronic virtual entity, etc.) or "transformation" (process sends claims data through the Internet and transforms it into claims resolution data and trend tracking information)? I have not had an opportunity to look at any recent process patents relating to IP applications, but so many of them are Web based, I was wondering how the use of the Internet in a process patent application was treated by USPTO.

Thanks to you and Wudchuck for your comments.