As the fallout of the Supreme Court's Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank decision propagates through the USPTO and lower courts, many patent applications and patents directed to business methods are being rejected or struck down for...more
In the weeks since the Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Supreme Court decision, we have been watching patents and applications fall left and right due to use of that case's more stringent test regarding patent-eligibility. This test...more
Planet Bingo is the assignee of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,398,646 and 6,656,045, both directed to computer-implemented methods and systems for managing bingo games. Planet Bingo filed an infringement action in the United States...more
In This Issue:
- The Analysis for Design Patent Infringement Post-Egyptian Goddess
- Supreme Court Issues Decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank
- Capitol Records, LLC v. Pandora Media, Inc.: Future of...more
8/27/2014
/ Capitol Records ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Copyright ,
Design Patent ,
Digital Media ,
Music Industry ,
Pandora ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
SCOTUS
There's an old saying that “bad facts make bad law,” acknowledging that a court's decisions regarding extreme cases can result in law poorly adapted to less extreme cases. The Supreme Court's recent trio of 35 U.S.C. § 101...more
Ever since the 2010 Supreme Court opinion in Bilski v. Kappos was handed down, the debate over the scope of patent-eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 has been at times stimulating, complex, comical, and frustrating. Now it...more
On April 12, 2013, Segin Software sued Stewart Title and several other parties for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,165,939. The defendants filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office requesting post-grant...more
Less than four weeks after the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, the Federal Circuit has used the holding of that case to strike down a patentee's claims under 35 U.S.C. § 101....more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) wasted no time providing guidance to its examining corps regarding the recent Supreme Court decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International. Just one week after the Justices...more
In the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, the Court affirmed the invalidity of Alice’s patents for computer implemented methods of reducing settlement risk. This case reached the...more
There's an old saying that "bad facts make bad law," acknowledging that a court's decision regarding an extreme case can result in law that poorly serves less extreme cases. The Supreme Court's recent trio of 35 U.S.C. § 101...more
6/20/2014
/ Akamai Technologies ,
Alice Corporation ,
CLS Bank ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Kappos ,
Limelight Networks ,
Mayo v. Prometheus ,
Nautilus Inc. v. Biosig Instruments ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS
A very experienced patent attorney once told me that you should never write means-plus-function claims unless there is a Luger at your temple. This, the first opinion addressing indefiniteness to come from the Federal...more
On June 12, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company "will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology." This move was hailed by some as a win for those who support...more
On Monday, March 31, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the closely-watched Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l case. The question presented was "[w]hether claims to computer-implemented inventions -- including claims to...more
On March 28, Professor Robin Feldman of the University of California Hastings College of Law wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled "Slowing the Patent Trolls". Unfortunately, like so many articles of its ilk,...more
On March 8th, The Economist published an article deriding both so-called "patent trolls" and "software patents" as being impediments to innovation in the United States. Unfortunately, as we have seen all too often when the...more
In a previous article, we discussed the background of this case, and provided an overview of the Petitioner Brief of patentee Alice Corp. In this article, we continue by covering the brief of the Respondent, CLS Bank....more
On December 6th, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to a case that presents the question of "[w]hether claims to computer-implemented inventions -- including claims to systems and machines, processes, and items of...more
In 2011, Cyberfone sued CNN and 80 other defendants in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,019,060. On the defendants' motion for summary judgment, the District Court...more
3/4/2014
In This Issue:
Experience with the USPTO’s First Action Interview Program; “Patent Trolls” Beware – Congress Tackles Vexatious Patent Litigation; Evolving Data Protection Regimes in the Asia-Pacific Arena and Their...more
On May 5, 2011, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“the Office”) kicked off a new program intended to give applicants and examiners an opportunity to discuss the substance of a patent application before a formal,...more
While non-precedential, this recent Federal Circuit decision further illustrates the Court's thinking with regard to the patent-eligibility of computer-implemented inventions under 35 U.S.C. § 101, and provides a reminder...more
On Friday the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Intl., opening the door once again for the Justices to further carve out the landscape of patent-eligible software and business method claims....more
Recipe for a contentious Federal Circuit decision: empanel two judges who have different understandings of the patent-eligibility of computer-related inventions, sprinkle in a claim or two that could be viewed as a pure...more
In This Issue:
Not Just a Flook? Consideration of Prior Art When Evaluating Subject Matter Eligibility; The USPTO Adopts New Rules of Professional Conduct; and Trademark Functionality in the Beverage...more