“A patent protects a product, process, invention, machine, or plant produced by asexual
reproduction”(Kubasek et al., 2019). In this case the patent in question was for a process
by which an online shoe store was customizing and predicting what shoes customers
would like and making the buying process quicker and easier by collecting and storing
data on the customers preferences and buying habits. However, just because someone
comes up with an idea that does not mean it is patent worthy. Let’s take a look at this
patent against the criteria. There are four criteria for something to be patent worthy. The
subject matter must be patentable, and it must be new -you cannot patent something people
have been using or doing for years (Kubasek et al., 2019). This process in itself is seen on
just about every website today and even the ads that com up on our phones and computers
are customized by previous browsing. But before there was internet this is what brick and
mortar stores depended on, great customer service accomplished by knowing their
customers and their needs. So, the process itself would not be considered patentable as it is
not a new process. Now one could argue that it is a new automated process on websites
however even the plaintiff admitted that at the time many other websites were doing the
same thing just none were doing it with shoe sales. This point raises many questions as to
whether this process online is patentable. The next test is to see if it useful and provides
some utility to society (Kubasek et al., 2019). This process is useful and does making the
shopping process much easier. And lastly is it obvious? (Kubasek et al., 2019). Here I
would say that just like the process not being new, it is obvious. This is something that
anyone in customer service could have come up with the idea for. I agree with the Judge’s
decision that defendant was using the same process online, but that this process is not
patentable due to the process not being novel or non-obvious. Just as I stated previously
these are two of the four requirements for a patent and without meeting all four
requirements the patent does not stand.
