Patent lawyers, strategists, entrepreneurs and investors in software and Internet enterprises are acutely aware of “the Alice problem.” The Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International caused a chill in the granting and sustaining of patents for software. It did so by holding inventions directed to “abstract ideas” patent-ineligible under section 101 of the Patent Act if only implemented by generic functions of generic computers. Valuation of software patents has suffered, and interest in pursuing them has flagged.
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