FREEMAN–WALTER–ABELE TEST

Freeman–Walter–Abele test.Patents. An outmoded two-step judicial test for determining

whether a claimed invention is an unpatentable mathematical algorithm. • The test looks first to

whether an algorithm is explicit or inherent in the claim, and second to whether a patent would

wholly preempt others from using the algorithm. In re Freeman, 573 F.2d 1237 (CCPA 1978); In

re Walter, 618 F.2d 758 (CCPA 1980); In re Abele, 684 F.2d 902 (CCPA 1982). The Federal

Circuit has said that the test has “little, if any, applicability” after State St. Bank & Trust Co. v.

Signature Fin. Group, 149 F.3d 1368 (Fed. Cir. 1998).[Blacks Law 8th]