I'm just thinking out loud tonight......

I have an idea on a first come first serve basis that will help 95% of us Americans.((plan not for anyone in a Gov office position)) My question...I have a rough financial plan that will help most of us all out. Now is a financial process patentable?
I cannot state anymore info than this. I will need to meet with lawyers, mathematicians etc for this to happen legally.
I've been doing some research on this but the more I read the more I get confused.

Thanks for any help.
Rick

Patent is a little out of my area of expertise, but I do believe business process plans, etc. are patentable if they met the other statutory requirements for a patent.  Without knowing more, I'd say you have two problems though - first, if this is just a "rough financial plan", it may not be specific enough to get through the examination process.  That is, the rougher the plan, the broader the claims will have to be, and thus the more likely it'll be shot down for claiming too much.

The next problem (and actually related to the above problem) is whether it will meet the statutory requirements of novelty and non-obviousness.  There's been a hell of a lot written on finance and financial plans in the last 200 years or so, and if there is anything in the prior art, in any country, that even hints at your "invention", you're basicly SOL on novelty and non-obviousness.

Again though, I'm not a patent attorney.  I'll get in touch with some colleagues who are though, and see what they have to say.

Rick -

I checked with a friend specializing in patent prosecution.  She basicly confirmed what I said in my previous post.  It sounds like it would be very difficult, but not impossible. And even if its granted, it doesn't guarantee it would survive a suit for invalidation.  Still, without knowing the specifics of your invention, I'd say it might be worth going to a patent attorney in your area to disclose the particulars and get their opinion.