Patent Eligibility – No Dice

The Federal Circuit held in In re Marco Guldenaar Holding B.V. that claims for a dice game were ineligible for patent protection.  The court affirmed rejection of claims “directed to the abstract idea of ‘rules for playing a dice game,’ which fell within the realm of ‘methods of organizing human activities.’”  Although the claimed dice had non-conventional markings, the court concluded that such markings simply constitute “printed matter” that falls outside the scope of patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101.