The only thing to note here is probably just fact that the court decided to evade the question of subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, deciding the case on other grounds as it has suggested doing in other instances when possible.
Background / Facts: The application on appeal from the Board is for a domestic cat breed produced by mating a Bobcat, Lynx, or Bobcat Lynx species with a domestic cat. The claims were all rejected as anticipated by prior art references and as directed to non-statutory subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The court exercised discretion under the avoidance doctrine to avoid reaching the ultimate conclusion of subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, however, instead deciding the case only on anticipation grounds.
Issue(s): Whether the claim term “purebred” requires a breed that “has reached a point of stabilization where the stabilized breed can reproduce itself on it’s [sic] own.”
Holding(s): No. The court agreed with the PTO that “purebred” merely requires “breeding until a desired effect is reached.” None of the intrinsic or extrinsic evidence offered by the applicant required a more particular definition. Under this interpretation, the court easily reached their conclusion of anticipation in view of several publications describing a “Pixie-Bob” breed that developed naturally as the result of a bobcat mating in a barn with a family’s domestic cat.