Whether the Federal Circuit has wrongly extended the prohibition on patenting an 'abstract idea' to prohibit patenting concrete technological processes

Congress has authorized inventors to patent “any new and useful process,” or “any new and useful improvement thereof.” 35 U.S.C. § 101. This Court has read § 101 to include an implicit exception that bars patenting an “abstract idea.” The questions presented are: 1. Whether the Federal Circuit has wrongly extended the prohibition on patenting an “abstract idea”—such as mathematical formulae, fundamental economic practices, or methods of organizing human activity—to also prohibit patenting concrete technological processes. 2. Whether the Federal Circuit has wrongly held that, as a matter of law, a technological invention is patent-eligible only if it claims improvements to computer functionality itself.