Suit Against Appeal Decision, Case No.188, Heisei 16 (Gyo-Ke), Tokyo High Court

December 21, 2004 (Heisei 16), Demand for Appeal Dismissed

In Japanese Patent Law, it is stipulated that “Invention” in this Law means the highly advanced creation of technical ideas by which a law of nature is utilized” (Section 2 (1)), and that “Any person who has made an invention which is industrially applicable may obtain a patent therefor, except in the case of the following inventions:” (Section 29 (1)) . Therefore, in a case where a claimed invention is not a “creation of technical ideas by which a law of nature is utilized”, the applicant of the claimed invention cannot be granted a patent since the claimed invention does not meet the requirement of Japanese Patent Law Section 29 (1).
Thus, it is apparent that neither a mere method of analyzing a mathematical problem nor a mere process of mathematical calculation is a “creation of technical ideas by which a law of nature is utilized”.