Diehr and Latton applied for a patent to protect their deve l opment of a new process for molding raw, uncured synthetic rubber into cured products. Diehr and Latton argued that their unique contribution was to measure the temperature inside the mold and feed that temperature into a computer that was programmed to calculate the exact time needed for the curing process.
The computer would then activate a mechanism to open the mold. The process, as conceived by Diehr and Latton , eliminated the guesswork usually associated with measuring the length of time for the mold to remain closed.
The patent office denied the patent because it used a co m puter program in the process. The office said that the program was essentially a mathematical idea and was there fore unpate n table .
Diehr and Latton argued that the mere fact that a computer program was used as part of a process did not mean that the whole process would be unpatentable . Were Diehr and Latton correct? Why or why not?
Diamond v. Diehr, 101 S.Ct . 1048 (U.S. Sup. Ct.