A “cure” is obtained by mixing curing agents into the uncured polymer in advance of molding, and then applying heat over a period of time. If the synthetic rubber is cured for the right length of time at the right temperature, it becomes a usable product.

The equation is named after its discoverer Svante Arrhenius and has long been used to calculate the cure time in rubber-molding presses. The equation can be expressed as follows:

In v=CZ+x

wherein In v is the natural logarithm of v, the total required cure time; *178C is the activation constant, a unique figure for each batch of each compound being molded, determined in accordance with rheometer measurements of each batch; Z is the temperature in the mold; and x is a constant dependent on the geometry of the particular mold in the press. A rheometer is an instrument to measure flow of viscous substances.

During the time a press is open for loading, it will cool. The longer it is open, the cooler it becomes and the longer it takes to reheat the press to the desired temperature range. Thus, the time necessary to raise the mold temperature to curing temperature is an unpredictable variable. The respondents claim to have overcome this problem by continuously measuring the actual temperature in the closed press through the use of a thermocouple.

We note that the petitioner does not seriously contest the respondents' assertions regarding the inability of the industry to obtain accurate cures on a uniform basis. See Brief for Petitioner 3.

Respondents’ application contained 11 different claims. Three examples are claims 1, 2, and 11 which provide:

“1. A method of operating a rubber-molding press for precision molded compounds with the aid of a digital computer, comprising:

“providing said computer with a data base for said press including at least,

“natural logarithm conversion data (In),

“the activation energy constant (C) unique to each batch of said compound being molded, and

“a constant (x) dependent upon the geometry of the particular mold of the press,

“initiating an interval timer in said computer upon the closure of the press for monitoring the elapsed time of said closure,

“constantly determining the temperature (Z) of the mold at a location closely adjacent to the mold cavity in the press during molding,

“constantly providing the computer with the temperature (Z),

"repetitively calculating in the computer, at frequent intervals during each cure, the Arrhenius equation for reaction time during the cure, which is

“In v=CZ+x

“where v is the total required cure time,

“repetitively comparing in the computer at said frequent intervals during the cure each said calculation of the total required cure time calculated with the Arrhenius equation and said elapsed time, and

“opening the press automatically when a said comparison indicates equivalence.

“2. The method of claim 1 including measuring the activation energy constant for the compound being molded in the press with a rheometer and automatically updating said data base within the computer in the *180event of changes in the compound being molded in said press as measured by said rheometer.

"11. A method of manufacturing precision molded articles from selected synthetic rubber compounds in an openable rubber molding press having at least one heated precision mold, comprising:

"(a) heating said mold to a temperature range approximating a predetermined rubber curing temperature,

"(b) installing prepared unmolded synthetic rubber of a known compound in a molding cavity of predetermined geometry as defined by said mold,

“(c) closing said press to mold said rubber to occupy said cavity in conformance with the contour of said mold and to cure said rubber by transfer of heat thereto from said mold,

“(d) initiating an interval timer upon the closure of said press for monitoring the elapsed time of said closure,

“(e) heating said mold during said closure to maintain the temperature thereof within said range approximating said rubber curing temperature,

“(f) constantly determining the temperature of said mold at a location closely adjacent said cavity thereof throughout closure of said press,

“(g) repetitively calculating at frequent periodic intervals throughout closure of said press the Arrhenius equation for reaction time of said rubber to determine total required cure time v as follows:

“In v=cz+x

“wherein c is an activation energy constant determined for said rubber being molded and cured in said press, z is the temperature of said mold at the time of each calculation of said Arrhenius equation, and x is a constant which is a function of said predetermined geometry of said mold,

“(h) for each repetition of calculation of said Arrhenius equation herein, comparing the resultant calculated total required cure time with the monitored elapsed time measured by said interval timer,

“(i) opening said press when a said comparison of calculated total required cure time and monitored elapsed time indicates equivalence, and

“(j) removing from said mold the resultant precision molded and cured rubber article.”

The word “process” is defined in 35 U. S. C. § 100 (b):

“The term 'process’ means process, art or method, and includes a new use of a known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or material.”

In Coming v. Burden, 15 How. 252, 267-268 (1854), this Court explained:

“A process, eo nomine, is not made the subject of a patent in our act of congress. It is included under the general term ‘useful art.’ An art may require one or more processes or machines in order to produce a certain result or manufacture. The term machine includes every mechanical device or combination of mechanical powers and devices to perform some *183function and produce a certain eifect or result. But where the result or effect is produced by chemical action, by the operation or application of some element or power of nature, or of one substance to another, such modes, methods, or operations, are called processes. A new process is usually the result of discovery; a machine, of invention. The arts of tanning, dyeing, making water-proof cloth, vulcanizing India rubber, smelting ores, and numerous others, are usually carried on by processes as distinguished from machines. One may discover a new and useful improvement in the process of tanning, dyeing, &c., irrespective of any particular form of machinery or mechanical device. And another may invent a labor-saving machine by which this operation or process may be performed, and each may be entitled to his patent. As, for instance, A has discovered that by exposing India rubber to a certain degree of heat, in mixture or connection with certain metalie salts, he can produce a valuable product, or manufacture; he is entitled to a patent for his discovery, as a process or improvement in the art, irrespective of any machine or mechanical device. B, on the contrary, may invent a new furnace or stove, or steam apparatus, by which this process may be carried on with much saving of labor, and expense of fuel; and he will be entitled to a patent for his machine, as an improvement in the art. Yet A could not have a patent for a machine, or B for a process; but each would have a patent for the means or method of producing a certain result, or effect, and not for the result or effect produced. It is for the discovery or invention of some practical method or means of producing a beneficial result or effect, that a patent is granted, and not for the result or effect itself. It is when the term process is used to represent the means or method of producing a result that it is patentable, and it will include all methods or means which are not effected by mechanism or mechanical combinations.”

We note that as early as 1854 this Court approvingly referred to patent eligibility of processes for curing rubber. See id., at 267; n. 7, supra. In Tilghman v. Proctor, 102 U. S. 707 (1881), we referred to the original patent Charles Goodyear received on his process for “vulcanizing” or curing rubber. We stated: •

“That a patent can be granted for a process, there can be no doubt. The patent law is not confined to new machines and new compositions of matter, but extends to any new and useful art or manufacture. A manufacturing process is clearly an art, within the meaning of the law. Goodyear’s patent was for a process, namely, the process of vulcanizing india-rubber by subjecting it to a high degree of heat when mixed with sulphur *185and a mineral salt. The apparatus for performing the process was not patented, and was not material. The patent pointed out how the process could be effected, and that was deemed sufficient.” Id., at 722.

The term “algorithm” is subject to a variety of definitions. The petitioner defines the term to mean:

“ '1. A fixed step-by-step procedure for accomplishing a given result; usually a simplified procedure for solving a complex problem, also a full statement of a finite number of steps. 2. A defined process or set of rules that leads [sic] and assures development of a desired output from a given input. A sequence of formulas and/or algebraic/logical steps to calculate or determine a given task; processing rules.’ ” Brief for Petitioner in Diamond v. Bradley, O. T. 1980, No. 79-855, p. 6, n. 12, quoting C. Sippl & R. Sippl, Computer Dictionary and Handbook 23 (2d ed. 1972).

This definition is significantly broader than the definition this Court employed in Benson and Flook. Our previous decisions regarding the pat-entability of “algorithms” are necessarily limited to the more narrow definition employed by the Court, and we do not pass judgment on whether processes falling outside the definition previously used by this Court, but within the definition offered by the petitioner, would be patentable subject matter.

As we explained in Flook, in order for an operator using the formula to calculate an updated alarm limit the operator would need to know the original alarm base, the appropriate margin of safety, the time interval that should elapse between each updating, the current temperature (or other process variable), and the appropriate weighing factor to be used to average the alarm base and the current temperature. 437 U. S., at 586. The patent application did not “explain how to select the approximate margin of safety, the weighing factor, or any of the other variables.” Ibid.

We noted in Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co., 333 U. S. 127, 130 (1948):

“He who discovers a hitherto unknown phenomenon of nature has no claim to a monopoly of it which the law recognizes. If there is to be invention from such a discovery, it must come from the application of the law of nature to a new and useful end.”

Although we were dealing with a “product” claim in Funk Bros., the same principle applies to a process claim. Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U. S. 63, 68 (1972).

It is argued that the procedure of dissecting a claim into old and new elements is mandated by our decision in Flook which noted that a mathematical algorithm must be assumed to be within the “prior art.” It is from this language that the petitioner premises his argument that if everything other than the algorithm is determined to be old in the art, then the claim cannot recite statutory subject matter. The fallacy in this argument is that we did not hold in Flook that the mathematical algorithm could not be considered at all when making the § 101 determination. To accept the analysis proffered by the petitioner would, if carried to its extreme, make all inventions unpatentable because all inventions can be reduced to underlying principles of nature which, once known, make their implementation obvious. The analysis suggested by the petitioner would also undermine our earlier decisions regarding the criteria to consider in determining the eligibility of a process for patent protection. See, e. g., Gottschalk v. Benson, supra; and Cochrane v. Deener, 94 U. S. 780 (1877).

Section 102 is titled “Conditions for patentability; novelty and loss of right to patent,” and provides:

“A person shall be entitled to a patent unless—

“(a) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or

“(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent in the United States, or

“(c) he has abandoned the invention, or

“(d) the invention was first patented or caused to be patented, or was *190the subject of an inventor’s certificate, by the applicant or his legal representatives or assigns in a foreign country prior to the date of the application for patent in this country on an application for patent or inventor’s certificate filed more than twelve months before the filing of the application in the United States, or

“(e) the invention was described in a patent granted on an application for patent by another filed in the United States before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or on an international application by another who has fulfilled the requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), and (4) of section 371 (c) of this title before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or

“(f) he did not himself invent the subject matter sought to be patented, or

“ (g) before the applicant’s invention thereof the invention was made in this country by another who had not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed it. In determining priority of invention there shall be considered not only the respective dates of conception and reduction to practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence of one who was first to conceive and last to reduce to practice, from a time prior to conception by the other.”

Arguably, the claims in Flook did mare than present a mathematical formula. The claims also solved the calculation in order to produce a new number or “alarm limit” and then replaced the old number with the number newly produced. The claims covered all uses of the formula in processes “comprising the catalytic chemical conversion of hydrocarbons.” There are numerous such processes in the petrochemical and oil refinery industries and the claims therefore covered a broad range of potential uses. 437 U. S., at 586. The claims, however, did not cover every conceivable application of the formula. We rejected in Flook the argument that because all possible uses of the mathematical formula were not pre-empted, the claim should be eligible for patent protection. Our reasoning in Flook is in no way inconsistent with our reasoning here. A mathematical formula does not suddenly become patentable subject matter simply by having the applicant acquiesce to limiting the reach of the patent for the formula to a particular technological use. A mathematical formula in the abstract is nonstatutory subject matter regardless of whether the patent is intended to cover all uses of the formula or only limited uses. Similarly, a mathematical formula does not become patentable subject matter merely by including in the claim for the formula token postsolution activity such as the type claimed in Flook. We were careful to note in Flook that the patent application did not purport to explain how the variables used in the formula were to be selected, nor did the application contain any disclosure relating to chemical processes at work or the means of setting off an alarm or adjusting the alarm limit. Ibid. All the application provided was a “formula for computing an updated alarm limit.” Ibid.

The dissent’s analysis rises and falls on its characterization of respondents’ claims as presenting nothing more than “an improved method of calculating the time that the mold should remain closed during the curing process.” Post, at 206-207. The dissent states that respondents claim only to have developed “a new method of programming a digital computer in order to calculate — promptly and repeatedly — the correct curing time in a familiar process.” Post, at 213. Respondents’ claims, however, are not limited to the isolated step of “programming a digital computer.” Rather, respondents’ claims describe a process of curing rubber beginning with the loading of the mold and ending with the opening of the press and the production of a synthetic rubber product that has been perfectly cured — a result heretofore unknown in the art. See n. 5, supra. The fact that one or more of the steps in respondents’ process may not, in isolation, be novel or independently eligible for patent protection is irrelevant to the question of whether the claims as a whole recite subject matter eligible for patent protection under § 101. As we explained when discussing machine patents in Deepsouth Packing Co. v. Laitram Corp., 406 U. S. 518 (1972):

“The patents were warranted not by the novelty of their elements but by the novelty of the combination they represented. Invention was recognized because Laitram’s assignors combined ordinary elements in an extraordinary way — a novel union of old means was designed to achieve new ends. Thus, for both inventions ‘the whole in some way exceed[ed] the sum of its parts.’ Great A. & P. Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp., 340 U. S. 147, 152 (1950).” Id., at 521-522 (footnote omitted).

In order for the dissent to reach its conclusion it is necessary for it to read out of respondents’ patent application all the steps in the claimed process which it determined were not novel or “inventive.” That is not the purpose of the § 101 inquiry and conflicts with the proposition recited above that a claimed invention may be entitled to patent protection even though some or all of its elements are not “novel.”

The subject received some scholarly attention prior to 1964. See, e. g., Seidel, Antitrust, Patent and Copyright Law Implications of Computer Technology, 44 J. Pat. Off. Soc. 116 (1962); Comment, The Patentability of Computer Programs, 38 N. Y. U. L. Rev. 891 (1963). In 1964, the Copyright Office began registering computer programs. See 11 Copyright Soc. Bull. 361 (1964); Davis, Computer Programs and Subject Matter Patentability, 6 Rutgers J. Computers, Tech. & L. 1, 5 (1977). Also in 1964, the Patent Office Board of Appeals issued what appears to be the first published opinion concerning the patentability of a computer-related invention. See Ex parte King, 146 USPQ 590.

ENIAC, the first general purpose electronic digital computer, was built in 1946. Unlike modem computers, this machine was externally programmed; its circuitry had to be manually rewired each time it was used to perform a new task. See Gemignani, Legal Protection for Computer Software: The View From 79, 7 Rutgers J. Computers, Tech. & L. 269, 270 (1980). In 1952, a group of scientists at the Institute for Advanced Study completed MANIAC I, the first digital computer capable of operating upon stored programs, as opposed to hard-wired circuitry. See Ulam, Computers, 211 Scientific American 203 (1964).

In re Prater, 56 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1360, 415 F. 2d 1378 (1968), modified on rehearing, 56 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1381, 415 F. 2d 1393 (1969), is generally identified as the first significant judicial decision to consider the subject-matter patentability of computer program-related inventions. The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals earlier decided In re Naquin, 55 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1428, 398 F. 2d 863 (1968), in which it rejected a challenge to an application for a patent on a program-related invention on grounds of inadequate disclosure under § 112.

See Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U. S. 63 (1972).

See also Novick & Wallenstein, The Algorithm and Computer Software Patentability: A Scientific View of a Legal Problem, 7 Rutgers J. Computers, Tech. & L. 313, 316-317 (1980).

See, e. g., Don Lee, Inc. v. Walker, 61 F. 2d 58, 67 (CA9 1932); In re Bolongaro, 20 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 845, 846-847, 62 F. 2d 1059, 1060 (1933); In re Shao Wen Yuan, 38 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 967, 969-972, 188 F. 2d 377, 379-380 (1951); Lyman v. Ladd, 120 U. S. App. D. C. 388, 389, 347 F. 2d 482, 483 (1965).

See, e. g., In re Cooper, 30 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 946, 949, 134 F. 2d 630, 632 (1943); Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co. v. Walker, 146 F. 2d 817, 821, 823 (CA9 1944), rev’d on other grounds, 329 U. S. 1 (1946); In re Heritage, 32 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1170, 1173-1177, 150 F. 2d 554, 556-558 (1945); In re Abrams, 38 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 945, 950-953, 188 F. 2d 165, 168-170 (1951); In re Shao Wen Yuan, supra, at 975-976, 188 F. 2d, at 383; In re Lundberg, 39 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 971, 975, 197 F. 2d 336, 339 (1952); In re Venner, 46 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 754, 758-759, 262 F. 2d 91, 95 (1958).

The “function of a machine” doctrine is generally traced to Corning v. Burden, 15 How. 252, 268 (1854), in which the Court stated: “[I]t is well settled that a man cannot have a patent for the function or abstract effect of a machine, but only for the machine which produces it.” The doctrine was subsequently reaffirmed on several occasions. See, e. g., Risdon Iron & Locomotive Works v. Medart, 158 U. S. 68, 78-79, 84 (1895); Westinghouse v. Boyden Power Brake Co., 170 U. S. 537, 554-557 (1898); Busch v. Jones, 184 U. S. 598, 607 (1902); Expanded Metal Co. v. Bradford, 214 U. S. 366, 383 (1909).

See, e. g., In re Weston, 17 App. D. C. 431, 436-442 (1901); Chisholm-Ryder Co. v. Buck, 65 F. 2d 735, 736 (CA4 1933); In re Ernst, 21 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1235, 1238-1240, 71 F. 2d 169, 171-172 (1934); In re McCurdy, 22 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1140, 1142-1145, 76 F. 2d 400, 402-403, (1935); In re Parker, 23 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 721, 722-725, 79 F. 2d 908, 909-910 (1935); Black-Clawson Co. v. Centrifugal Engineering & Patents Corp., 83 F. 2d 116, 119-120 (CA6), cert. denied, 299 U. S. 554 (1936); In re Wadman, 25 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 936, 943-944, 94 F. 2d 993, 998 (1938); In re Mead, 29 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1001, 1004, 127 F. 2d 302, 304 (1942); In re Solakian, 33 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1054, 1059, 155 F. 2d 404, 407 (1946); In re Middleton, 35 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1166, 1167-1168, 167 F. 2d 1012, 1013-1014 (1948); In re Nichols, 36 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 759, 762-763, 171 F. 2d 300, 302-303 (1948); In re Ashbaugh, 36 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 902, 904-905, 173 F. 2d 273, 274-275 (1949); In re Horvath, 41 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 844, 849-851, 211 F. 2d 604, 607-608 (1954); In re Gartner, 42 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1022, 1025-1026, 223 F. 2d 502, 504 (1955).

The Commission’s report contained the following evaluation of the current state of the law with respect to computer program patentability: “Uncertainty now exists as to whether the statute permits a valid patent to be granted on programs. Direct attempts to patent programs have been rejected on the ground of nonstatutory subject matter. Indirect attempts to obtain patents and avoid the rejection, by drafting claims as a process, or a machine or components thereof programmed in a given manner, rather than as a program itself, have confused the issue further and should not be permitted.” Report of the President’s Commission on the Patent System, “To Promote the Progress of . . . Useful Arts” in an Age of Exploding Technology 14 (1966).

The Patent Office guidelines were based primarily upon the mental-steps doctrine and the Cochrane v. Deener, 94 U. S. 780 (1877), definition of “process.” See 829 Off. Gaz. Pat. Off. 865 (Aug. 16, 1966); 33 Fed. Reg. 15609 (1968).

Judge Kirkpatrick, joined by Chief Judge Worley, wrote a vigorous dissent objecting to the majority’s decision to abandon “a rule which is about as solidly established as any rule of the patent law.” 55 C. C. P. A. (Pat.), at 1457, 397 F. 2d, at 868. Unlike the majority, the dissenting judges did not consider the doctrine inequitable or silly, and they observed that it had functioned in a satisfactory manner in the past. Id., at 1457-1458, 397 F. 2d, at 869. In addition, they considered the doctrine to be so well established that it had been adopted by implication in the Patent Act of 1952. Id., at 1458, 397 F. 2d. at 869.

In Prater, the patent application claimed an improved method for processing spectrographic data. The method analyzed conventionally obtained data by using well-known equations. The inventors had discovered a particular mathematical characteristic of the equations which enabled them to select the specific subset of equations that would yield optimum results. The application disclosed an analog computer as the preferred embodiment of the invention, but indicated that a programmed digital computer could also be used. 56 C. C. P. A. (Pat.), at 1361-1363, 415 F. 2d, at 1379-1380. The Patent Office had rejected the process claims on a mental-steps theory because the only novel aspect of the claimed method was the discovery of an unpatentable mathematical principle. The apparatus claim was rejected essentially because, when the mathematical principle was assumed to be within the prior art, the claim disclosed no invention entitled to patent protection. Id., at 1364-1365, 1375, 415 F. 2d, at 1381, 1399.

It is interesting to note that the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in the second Prater opinion expressly rejected the Patent Office’s procedure for analyzing the apparatus claim pursuant to which the mathematical principle was treated as though it were within the prior art. 56 C. C. P. A. (Pat.), at 1397, 415 F. 2d, at 1405-1406. This precise procedure, of course, was later employed by this Court in Parker v. Flook, 437 U. S. 584 (1978).

Under the “point of novelty” approach, if the novelty or advancement in the art claimed by the inventor resided solely in a step of the process embodying a mental operation or other unpatentable element, the claim was rejected under § 101 as being directed to nonstatutory subject matter. See Blumenthal & Riter, Statutory or Non-Statutory?: An Analysis of the Patentability of Computer Related Inventions, 62 J. Pat. Off. Soc. 454, 457, 461, 470 (1980).

The author of the second Prater opinion, Judge Baldwin, disagreed with the Musgrave “technological arts” standard for process claims. He described that standard as “a major and radical shift in this area of the law.” 57 C. C. P. A. (Pat.), at 1367, 431 F. 2d, at 893-894. As Judge Baldwin read the majority opinion, claims drawn solely to purely mental processes were now entitled to patent protection. Id., at 1369, 431 F. 2d, at 895-896. Judge Baldwin’s understanding of Musgrave seems to have been confirmed in In re Foster, 58 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1001, 1004-1005, 438 F. 2d 1011, 1014-1015 (1971).

In the interval between the two Benson decisions, the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals decided several cases in which it addressed the patentability of computer-related inventions. In In re McIlroy, 58 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1249, 442 F. 2d 1397 (1971), and In re Waldbaum, 59 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 940, 457 F. 2d 997 (1972), the court relied primarily upon Musgrave and Benson. In In re Ghiron, 58 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1207, 442 F. 2d 985 (1971), the court reaffirmed Tarczy-Hornoch’s rejection of the “function of a machine” doctrine.

Although the Court did not discuss the mental-steps doctrine in Benson, some commentators have suggested that the Court implicitly relied upon the doctrine in that case. See, e. g., Davis, supra n. 2, at 14, and n. 92. Other commentators have observed that the Court’s analysis in Benson was entirely consistent with the mental-steps doctrine. See, e. g., Comment, Computer Program Classification: A Limitation on Program Patentability as a Process, 53 Or. L. Rev. 501, 517-518, n. 132 (1974).

The decision of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals was reversed by this Court on other grounds in Dann v. Johnston, 425 U. S. 219 (1976).

In addition to interpreting Benson, the majority aiso maintained that Christensen, despite its point-of-novelty language, had not signalled a return to that form of claim analysis. 545 F. 2d, at 158. The court would reaffirm this proposition consistently thereafter. See, e. g., In re de Castelet, 562 F. 2d 1236, 1240 (1977); In re Richman, 563 F. 2d 1026, 1029-1030 (1977); In re Freeman, 573 F. 2d 1237, 1243-1244 (1978); In re Toma, 575 F. 2d 872, 876 (1978); In re Walter, 618 F. 2d 758, 766-767 (1980).

See also In re Deutsch, 553 F. 2d 689, 692-693 (CCPA 1977); In re Waldbaum, 559 F. 2d 611, 616-617 (CCPA 1977); In re de Castelet, supra, at 1243-1245.

This form of claim analysis did not originate with Flook. Rather, the Court derived it from the landmark decision of O’Reilly v. Morse, 15 How. 62, 115 (1854). In addition, this analysis is functionally the same as the point-of-novelty analysis used in conjunction with the mental-steps doctrine. In fact, the Patent Office in the past occasionally phrased its mental-steps rejections in essentially the terms later employed in Flook. See nn. 13-15, supra. See generally Comment, 35 U. S. C. 101 Claim Analysis — The Point of Novelty Approach, 62 J. Pat. Off. Soc. 521 (1980).

The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals suggested that the cause of this Court’s error was the argument presented by the Solicitor General in Flook. According to the majority, the Solicitor General’s briefs “badly, and with a seeming sense of purpose” confused the statutory requirements. *205596 F. 2d, at 962. The court went on to describe part of the Solicitor General’s argument in Flook as “subversive nonsense.” 596 F. 2d, at 963.

See, e. g., In re Johnson, 589 F. 2d 1070 (1978); In re Phillips, 608 F. 2d 879 (1979); In re Sherwood, 613 F. 2d 809 (1980), cert. pending, No. 79-1941.

In an opinion written over a century ago, the Court noted:

“A manufacturing process is clearly an art, within the meaning of the law. Goodyear’s patent was for a process, namely, the process of vulcanizing *206india-rubber by subjecting it to a high degree of heat when mixed with sulphur and a mineral salt.

“The mixing of certain substances together, or the heating of a substance to a certain temperature, is a process.” Tilghman v. Proctor, 102 U. S. 707, 722, 728 (1881).

See also Corning v. Burden, 15 How. 252, 267 (1854). Modern rubber curing methods apparently still are based in substantial part upon the concept discovered by Goodyear:

“Since the day 120 years ago when Goodyear first heated a mixture of rubber and sulphur on a domestic stove and so discovered vulcanisation, this action of heat and sulphur has remained the standard method of converting crude rubber, with all its limitations, into a commercially usable product, giving it the qualities of resistance to heat and cold in addition to considerable mechanical strength.

“Goodyear also conjured up the word ‘cure’ for vulcanisation, and this has become the recognised term in production circles.” Memagh, Practical Vulcanisation, in The Applied Science of Rubber 1053 (W. Naunton ed. 1961).

See generally Kimmich, Making Rubber Products for Engineering Uses, in Engineering Uses of Rubber 18, 28-34 (A. McPherson & A. Klemin eds. 1956)

“Respondents characterize their contribution to the art to reside in the process of constantly measuring the actual temperature inside the mold.” See ante, at 178.

Claim 1 is quoted in full in n. 5 of the Court’s opinion, ante, at 179. It describes a “method of operating a rubber-molding press for precision molded compounds with the aid of a digital computer.” As the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals noted, the improvement claimed in the application consists of “opening the mold at precisely the correct time rather than at a time which has been determined by approximation or guesswork.” In re Diehr, 602 F. 2d 982, 988 (1979).

In the portion of the patent application entitled “Abstract of the Disclosure,” the following reference to monitoring the temperature is found:

“An interval timer starts running from the time of mold closure, and the temperature within the mold cavity is measured often, typically every ten seconds. The temperature is fed to a computer . . . .” App. to Pet. for Cert. 38a.

In the portion of the application entitled “Background of the Invention,” the following statement is found:

“By accurate and constant calculation and recalculation of the correct mold time under the temperatures actually present in the mold, the material can be cured accurately and can be relied upon to produce very few rejections, perhaps completely eliminating all rejections due to faulty mold cure.” Id., at 41a.

And, in the “Summary of the Invention,” this statement appears:

“A surveillance system is maintained over the mold to determine the actual mold temperature substantially continuously, for example, every *208ten seconds, and to feed that information to the computer along with the pertinent stored data and along with the elapsed time information.” Ibid. Finally, in a description of a simple hypothetical application using the invention described in Claim 1, this is the reference to the temperature-reading device:

“Thermocouples, or other temperature-detecting devices, located directly within the mold cavity may read the temperature at the surface where the molding compound touches the mold, so that it actually gets the temperature of the material at that surface.” Id., at 45a.

Id., at 24a.

These elements of the rubber-curing process apparently have been well known for years. The following description of the vulcanization process appears in a text published in 1961:

“Vulcanisation is too important an operation to be left to human control, however experienced and conscientious. Instrumentation makes controlled *209cure possible, and in consequence instrument engineering is a highly important function in the modern rubber factory, skilled attention being necessary, not only in the maintenance of the instruments but also in their siting. There are instruments available which will indicate, record or control all the services involved in vulcanisation, including time, temperature and pressure, and are capable of setting in motion such operations as the opening and closing of moulds and, in general, will control any process variable which is capable of being converted into an electric charge or pneumatic or hydraulic pressure impulse.” Mernagh, supra n. 25, at 1091-1092.

Commentators critical of the Flook decision have noted the essential similarity of the two inventions:

“The Diehr invention improved the control system by continually re*210measuring the temperature and recalculating the proper cure time. The computer would simultaneously keep track of the elapsed time. When the elapsed time equalled the proper cure time, the rubber would be released automatically from the mold.

“The facts are difficult to distinguish from those in Flook. Both processes involved (1) an initial calculation, (2) continual remeasurement and recalculation, and (3) some control use of the value obtained from the calculation.” Novick & Wallenstein, supra n. 5, at 326 (footnotes omitted).

Indeed, the most significant distinction between the invention at issue in Flook and that at issue in this case lies not in the characteristics of the inventions themselves, but rather in the drafting of the claims. After noting that “[t]he Diehr claims are reminiscent of the claims in Flook,” Blumenthal & Riter, supra n. 15, at 502-503 (footnote omitted), the authors of a recent article on the subject observe that the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals’ analysis in this ease “lends itself to an interesting exercise in claim drafting.” Id., at 505. To illustrate their point, the authors redrafted the Diehr and Lutton claims into the format employed in the Flook application:

“An improved method of calculating the cure time of a rubber molding process utilizing a digital computer comprising the steps of:

“a. inputting into said computer input values including

“1. natural logarithm conversion data ([l]n),

“2. an activation energy constant (C) unique to each batch of rubber being molded,

“3. a constant (X) dependent upon the geometry of the particular mold of the press, and

“4. continuous temperature values (Z) of the mold during molding;

“b. operating said computer for

“1. counting the elapsed cure time,

“2. calculating the cure time from the input values using the Arrhenius equation [l]n V=CZ+X, where V is the total cure time, and

*211“c. providing output signals from said computer when said calculated cure time is equal to said elapsed cure time.” Ibid.

The authors correctly conclude that even the lower court probably would have found that this claim was drawn to unpatentable subject matter under § 101. Id., at 505-506.

In addition to confusing the requirements of §§ 101 and 102, the Court also misapprehends the record in this case when it suggests that the Diehr and Lutton patent application may later be challenged for failure to satisfy the requirements of §§ 102 and 103. See ante, at 191. This suggestion disregards the fact that the applicants overcame all objections to issuance of the patent except the objection predicated on § 101. The Court seems to assume that §§ 102 and 103 issues of novelty and obviousness remain open on remand. As I understand the record, however, those issues have already been resolved. See Brief for Respondents 11-14; Reply Memorandum for Petitioner 3-4, and n. 4. Therefore, the Court is now deciding that the patent will issue.

The early cases that the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals refused to follow in Prater, Musgrave, and Benson had recognized the distinction between the § 101 requirement that what the applicant claims to have invented must be patentable subject matter and the § 102 requirement that the invention must actually be novel. See, e. g., In re Shao Wen Yuan, 38 C. C. P. A. (Pat.), at 973-976, 188 F. 2d, at 382-383; In re Abrams, 38 C. C. P. A. (Pat.), at 951-952, 188 F. 2d, at 169; In re Heritage, 32 C. C. P. A. (Pat.), at 1173-1174, 1176-1177, 150 F. 2d, at 556, 558; Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co. v. Walker, 146 F. 2d, at 821, 823. The lower court’s error in this case, and its unenthusiastic reception of Gottschalk v. Benson and Parker v. Flook, is, of course, con*212sistent with its expansive reading of § 101 in Tarczy-Hornoch, Prater, and their progeny.

The Court’s opinion in Flook itself pointed out this distinction: “The obligation to determine what type of discovery is sought to be patented must precede the determination of whether that discovery is, in fact, new or obvious.” 437 U. S., at 593.

As the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals noted in this case, “for the claim to be statutory, there must be some substance to it other than the recitation and solution of the equation or formula.” 602 F. 2d, at 988. See Comment, 62 J. Pat. Off. Soc., supra n. 22, at 522-523.

The Court fails to focus upon what Diehr and Lutton claim to have discovered apparently because it believes that this method of analysis would improperly import novelty considerations into § 101. See ante, at 188-191, 193, n. 15. Rather than directing its attention to the applicants’ claimed discovery, the Court instead focuses upon the general industrial context in which the applicants intend their discovery to be used. Implicit in this interpretation of the patent application is the assumption that, as long as the claims describe a specific implication of the applicants’ discovery, patentable subject matter is defined. This assumption was expressly rejected in Flook:

“This assumption is based on respondent’s narrow reading of Benson, and is as untenable in the context of § 101 as it is in the context of that case. It would make the determination of patentable subject matter depend simply on the draftsman’s art and would ill serve the principles underlying the prohibition against patents for 'ideas' or phenomena of nature. The rule that the discovery of a law of nature cannot be pat*213ented rests, not on the notion that natural phenomena are not processes, but rather on the more fundamental understanding that they are not the kind of ‘discoveries’ that the statute was enacted to protect.” 437 U. S., at 593 (footnote omitted).

A few excerpts from the original patent application will emphasize this point:

“The invention will probably best be understood by first describing a simple example, in which a single mold is involved and in which the information is relatively static.

“A standard digital computer may be employed in this method. It has a data storage bank of suitable size which, of course, may vary when many molds are used and when more refinements are employed. However, Fig. 1 shows a relatively simple case which achieves results that are vast improvements over what has been done up to now. . . .

“The data bank of the computer is provided with a digital input into which the time-temperature cure data for the compound involved is fed, as shown in Fig. 1. AE the data is available to the computer upon caE, by random access, and the call can be automatic depending upon the temperature actually involved. In other words, the computer over and over questions the data storage, asking, what is the proper time of cure for the foEowing summation of temperatures? The question may be asked each second, and the answer is readily provided.

“Recalculation continues until the time that has elapsed since mold closure corresponds with the calculated time. Then, the computer actuates the mold-opening device and the mold is automatically opened.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 43a-45a.

*214The Figure 1 referred to in the application is as follows:

Id., at 53a.

In Benson, we explained the term “algorithm” in the following paragraph:

“The patent sought is on a method of programming a general-purpose digital computer to convert signals from binary-coded decimal form into pure binary form. A procedure for solving a given type of mathematical problem is known as an ‘algorithm.' The procedures set forth in the present claims are of that kind; that is to say, they are a generalized formulation for programs to solve mathematical problems of converting one form of numerical representation to another. From the generic formulation, programs may be developed as specific applications.” 409 U. S., at 65.

In Flook, the Court’s analysis of the postsolution activity recited in the patent application turned, not on the relative significance of that activity in the catalytic conversion process, but rather on the fact that that activity was not a part of the applicant’s discovery:

“The notion that post-solution activity, no matter how conventional or obvious in itself, can transform an unpatentable principle into a patentable process exalts form over substance. A competent draftsman could attach some form of post-solution activity to almost any mathematical formula; the Pythagorean theorem would not have been patentable, or partially patentable, because a patent application contained a final step indicating that the formula-, when solved, could be usefully applied to existing surveying techniques. The concept of patentable subject matter under § 101 is not ‘like a nose of wax which may be turned and twisted in any direction . . . .’ White v. Dunbar, 119 U. S. 47, 51.” 437 U. S., at 590 (footnote omitted).

Although the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals erred because it ignored the distinction between the § 101 requirement that the applicant must claim to have discovered a novel process and the § 102 requirement that the discovery must actually be novel, that court correctly rejected the argument that any difference between Claim 11 and the earlier claims was relevant to the § 101 inquiry. See 602 F. 2d, at 984, 987-988.

This well-established precedent was reviewed in Parker v. Flook:

“Mackay Radio and Funk Bros, point to the proper analysis for this case: The process itself, not merely the mathematical algorithm, must be new and useful. Indeed, the novelty of the mathematical algorithm is not a determining factor at all. Whether the algorithm was in fact known or unknown at the time of the claimed invention, as one of the 'basic tools of scientific and technological work/ see Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U. S., at 67, it is treated as though it were a familiar part of the prior art.” 437 U. S., at 591-592.

For example, the Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, appearing as amicus curiae in Flook, made the following policy argument:

“The need of the incentive of patents for software is at least as great as that of the incentive available for hardware, because: ‘Today, providing computer software involves greater . . . risk than providing computer . . . hardware. . . .’

“To a financial giant, the economic value of a patent may not loom large; to the small software products companies upon which the future of the development of quality software depends, the value of the patent in financing a small company may spell the difference between life and death. To banks and financial institutions the existence of a patent or even the potentiality of obtaining one may well be a decisive factor in determining whether a loan should be granted. To prospective investors a patent or the possibility of obtaining one may be the principal element in the decision whether to invest.

“Making clear that patents may be available for inventions in software would unleash important innovative talent. It would have the direct opposite effect forecast by the . . . hardware manufacturers; it would enable competition with those companies and provide the needed incentive to stimulate innovation.” Brief for ADAPSO as Amicus Curiae in Parker v. Flook, O. T. 1977, No. 77-642, p. 44 (footnote omitted).

Gemignani, supra n. 1, at 309. In a footnote to that comment, Professor Gemignani added that the rate of growth of the software industry *218“has been even faster lately than that of the hardware industry which does enjoy patent protections.” Id., at 309, n. 259. Other commentators are in accord. See Nycum, Legal Protection for Computer Programs, 1 Computer L. J. 1, 55-58 (1978); Note, Protection of Computer Programs: Resurrection of the Standard, 50 Notre Dame Law. 333, 344 (1974).

See, e. g., Gemignani, supra n. 1, at 301-312; Keefe & Mahn, Protecting Software: Is It Worth All the Trouble?, 62 A. B. A. J. 906, 907 (1976).

This concern influenced the President’s Commission on the Patent System when it recommended against patent protection for computer programs. In its report, the President’s Commission stated:

“The Patent Office now cannot examine applications for programs because of the lack of a classification technique and the requisite search files. Even if these were available, reliable searches would not be feasible or economic because of the tremendous volume of prior art being generated. Without this search, the patenting of programs would be tantamount to mere registration and the presumption of validity would be all but nonexistent.” Report of the President’s Commission, supra n. 10, at 13.

It is noteworthy that the position of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in the process patent area had been consistent with that *219cf the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks for decades prior to 1968. As discussed in Part I, supra, in that year the court rejected two longstanding doctrines that would have foreclosed patentability for most computer programs under § 101.

A number of authorities have drawn the conclusion that the terms are in fact synonymous. See, e. g., Novick & Wallenstein, supra n. 5, at 333, n. 172; Anderson, Algorithm, 1 Encyclopedia of Computer Science & Technology 364, 369 (J. Belzer, A. Holzman & A. Kent eds. 1975); E. Horowitz & S. Sahni, Fundamentals of Computer Algorithms 2 (1978); A. Tanenbaum, Structured Computer Organization 10 (1976). Cf. Blumenthal & Riter, supra n. 15, at 455-456; Gemignani, supra n. 1, at 271-273, 276, n. 37.