Opinion ID: 4585172
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Printed Matter

Text: This court and its predecessor have long recognized that certain “printed matter” falls outside the scope of patentable subject matter under U.S. patent law. See AstraZeneca LP v. Apotex, Inc., 633 F.3d 1042, 1064 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (“This court has generally found printed matter to fall outside the scope of § 101.”); In re Chatfield, 545 F.2d 152, 157 (CCPA 1976) (“Some inventions, however meritorious, do not constitute patentable subject matter, e.g., printed matter.”). While historically “printed matter” referred to claim elements that literally encompassed “printed” material, the doctrine has evolved over time to guard against attempts to monopolize the conveyance of information using any medium. See Praxair Distrib., Inc. v. Mallinckrodt Hosp. Prods. IP Ltd., 890 F.3d 1024, 1032 (Fed. Cir. 2018); In re Distefano, 808 F.3d 845, 849 (Fed. Cir. 2015). Today, printed matter encompasses any information claimed for its communicative content, and the doctrine prohibits patenting such printed matter unless it is “functionally related” to its “substrate,” which encompasses the structural elements of the claimed invention. Praxair, 890 F.3d at 1032; DiStefano, 808 F.3d at 848–49. In evaluating the existence of a functional relationship, we have considered whether the printed matter merely informs people of the claimed information, or whether it instead interacts with the other elements of the claim to create a new functionality in a claimed device or to cause a specific action in a claimed process. Thus, we held in In re Marco Guldenaar Holding B.V., that the markings on dice had no functional relationship to the dice themselves because the markings did not cause the dice to become a “manufacture with new functionality.” 911 F.3d 1157, 1161 (Fed. Cir. 2018). We distinguished the dice markings Case: 19-1756 Document: 72 Page: 15 Filed: 11/10/2020 C R BARD INC. v. ANGIODYNAMICS, INC. 15 from the digits printed on a circular band in Gulack 3— where the digits exploited the band’s endless nature and made it useful for performing mathematical operations— and from the volumetric indicia on the side of a measuring cup in Miller 4—where the indicia made the cup useful for measuring partial recipes. Id. Based on analogous reasoning, we held in Praxair that there was a functional relationship between a step of recommending discontinuation of treatment and a step of actually discontinuing treatment because the claim required that the second step be “based on” the first. 890 F.3d at 1035. In contrast, where the discontinuation step was absent from other claims of the same patent, which merely required physicians to “evaluate” the information, we found no functional relationship between the information in the recommendation and the other steps of the claim. Id. at 1033–35. Here, the parties agree that the asserted claims include printed matter. Each claim requires one or more markers “identifying” or “confirming” that the implanted access port is “suitable” either “for flowing fluid at a rate of at least 1 milliliter per second through the access port” or “for accommodating a pressure within the cavity of at least 35 psi,” or both. These elements are directed to the content of the information conveyed. The parties disagree, however, over whether this printed matter is functionally related to the power injectable port, as recited in all the asserted claims, or to the step of performing a power injection, as recited in the method claims. Bard contends that the information conveyed by the markers provides new functionality to the port because it makes the port “self-identifying.” We disagree. A conclusion that mere identification of a device’s own 3 In re Gulack, 703 F.2d 1381, 1382–83 (Fed. Cir. 1983). 4 In re Miller, 418 F.2d 1392, 1393 (CCPA 1969). Case: 19-1756 Document: 72 Page: 16 Filed: 11/10/2020 16 C R BARD INC. v. ANGIODYNAMICS, INC. functionality is sufficient to constitute new functionality for purposes of the printed matter doctrine would eviscerate our established case law that “simply adding new instructions to a known product” does not create a functional relationship. AstraZeneca, 633 F.3d at 1065 (citing In re Ngai, 367 F.3d 1336, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2004)). Indeed, as early as the 1930s, our predecessor court recognized that the mere marking of products, such as meat and wooden boards, with information concerning the product, does not create a functional relationship between the printed information and the substrate. See In re McKee, 75 F.2d 991, 992 (CCPA 1935); In re Johns, 70 F.2d 913, 915 (CCPA 1934); In re Bruce, 56 F.2d 673, 674 (CCPA 1932). Bard also contends that the printed matter is functionally related to the power injection step of the method claims because the medical provider performs the power injection “based on” the identification of the port’s functionality. But there is no language in the claims suggesting such a causal relationship. Bard did not advocate for that construction before the district court, and we see no persuasive basis for reading that limitation into the claims. Thus, we hold that the content of the information conveyed by the claimed markers—i.e. that the claimed access ports are suitable for injection at the claimed pressure and flow rate—is printed matter not entitled to patentable weight. We next consider whether, in light of the claimed printed matter, the district court properly concluded that the asserted claims were invalid as ineligible or anticipated.