The term “automatically” does not exclude all possible human intervention, and may include human actions to expressly initiate the automatic functions (e.g., querying, generating, transmitting, or receiving), or to interrupt such functions. Nevertheless, the use of terms like this should probably be avoided when possible (most of the time), as they offer numerous avenues for design-around.
Background / Facts: Defendant CPi is in the business of automating the payment of patent maintenance fees. The plaintiff Whitserver is effectively a shell corporation for a patent attorney holding patents directed to the same. The primary factual dispute at trial concerned how CPi’s products operated, and whether they fell within the claims’ definition of “automatic.”
Issue(s): Whether the fact that a person using the accused products must manually choose a due date range to be queried constitutes a manual action that neither initiates nor interrupts the querying process.
Holding(s): No. A machine may still perform a claimed process “automatically” even though a human might manually initiate or interrupt the process. Dishwashers and autopilots, for example, could still be automatic even though they must be started by a human, or their operation may be interrupted by a human. Choosing a due date range simply initiates CPi’s automated querying process, it does not render the querying process itself manual.