What is the “inventive concept” in the Alice/Mayo test?
The “inventive concept” refers to the second part of the Alice/Mayo test for patent eligibility. As explained in MPEP 2106.05:
“An inventive concept ‘cannot be furnished by the unpatentable law of nature (or natural phenomenon or abstract idea) itself.’ Instead, an ‘inventive concept’ is furnished by an element or combination of elements that is recited in the claim in addition to (beyond) the judicial exception, and is sufficient to ensure that the claim as a whole amounts to significantly more than the judicial exception itself.”
The inventive concept analysis looks at whether the additional elements in a claim, beyond the judicial exception itself, add significantly more or transform the abstract idea into a patent-eligible application.
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