News & Analysis as of

Supreme Court of the United States Patent-Eligible Subject Matter CLS Bank v Alice Corp

The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary... more +
The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary with only a limited number of cases granted review each term.  The Court is comprised of one chief justice and eight associate justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to hold lifetime positions. less -
AEON Law

Patent Poetry: Federal Circuit Confirms Background Check Software Not Patentable

AEON Law on

The Federal Circuit has affirmed a lower court’s decision that the claims of a patent for software that manages pre-employment background checks weren’t patent-eligible. The case is In Miller Mendel, Inc. v. City of...more

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints

Is Your Blockchain Invention Patentable?

Blockchain is becoming central to more FinTech patent portfolios than ever – but it’s harder to obtain protection on blockchain than most other technologies. The US Supreme Court’s decision in Alice v. CLS Bank (2014)...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Senate Holds Hearing on Legislative Initiative to Address Patent Eligibility

Seeking to undo the current jurisprudence “mess” on the issue of patent eligibility, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property heard testimony on January 23, 2024, on the Patent Eligibility...more

Weintraub Tobin

Federal Circuit Continues to Strike Down Patents as Abstract Ideas

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The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has again relied on the Supreme Court’s Alice case to invalidate patents on the grounds that they are directed to an abstract idea. Realtime Data LLC v. Fortinet Inc. ( Fed. Cir. 8/2/2023)...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

What Patent Bills Would Mean for Infringement Litigation

Two bills recently introduced in Congress could significantly affect the current patent litigation landscape. The bipartisan bills are titled the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023 and the Promoting and Respecting...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

Takeaways From the Proposed Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023

Two proposed bills recently introduced in Congress have the potential to greatly impact the current patent litigation landscape. The bills are titled the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023 and the Promoting and...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Web IP Ruling Illustrates Ways To Clear Hurdles To Eligibility

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International ruling, patentees attempting to enforce their patents in the software arts have encountered a more significant hurdle for patent eligibility that has...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

CareDx, Inc. v. Natera, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2022)

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - Judge Moore, in Athena Diagnostics, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services, LLC stated the obvious when she said in her dissent: My colleagues' refusal deflates the Amici's hopeful...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

The Supreme Court Sidesteps America's Patent Eligibility Crisis

In an order that is clearly less impactful and damaging than a number of opinions that the Supreme Court has disgorged in the last two weeks, the justices have denied certiorari in American Axle & Mfg. Inc. v. Neapco Holdings...more

Weintraub Tobin

Alice is Alive and Well!

Weintraub Tobin on

Not everything is patentable. First, only inventions are patentable. Second, only certain inventions are patentable. Four types of inventions are patentable: articles of manufacture, machines, processes, and compositions of...more

Weintraub Tobin

Will the Supreme Court Unravel the Patent-Eligibility Tangle?

Weintraub Tobin on

Since the Alice v. CLS Bank and Mayo v. Prometheus decisions, district courts and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has struggled to determine and navigate the boundary between what is and what is not...more

Weintraub Tobin

USPTO Requests Input On Patent Eligibility From Critical Sectors Impacted By Current Law

Weintraub Tobin on

In recent years, the Supreme Court has decided a number of cases, including Bilski v. Kappos, Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad, and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, which...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Chicago Patent Attorneys File Supreme Court Amicus Brief in American Axle

Chicago patent attorneys Kevin E. Noonan, Michael S. Borella, Aaron V. Gin, and Adnan M. "Eddie" Obissi have filed an amicus brief supporting Supreme Court review of the Federal Circuit's decision to invalidate claims of...more

Haug Partners LLP

Will the Newest American Axle Case Create a Panel-Dependent Body of Law or Provoke the Supreme Court to Take Action? How the...

Haug Partners LLP on

On October 23, 2020, in a remarkable order demonstrating how a “bitterly divided” Federal Circuit views post-Alice patent eligibility jurisprudence, the court denied the motion of American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. (“AAM”)...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

The Three Properties of Patent-Eligibility: An Empirical Study

Patent eligibility is a bit of a mess these days.  Ever since the Supreme Court handed down the Alice v. CLS Bank decision six years ago, the distinction between what might be subject matter that can be patented and what is...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

What is an Abstract Idea, Anyway?

In 2014's Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l case, Justice Thomas famously wrote, "we need not labor to delimit the precise contours of the 'abstract ideas' category in this case."  Instead, he found the claims of patentee Alice...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

A Step-by-Step Approach to Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Reform

There is a belief in some quarters that the most significant barrier to patent subject matter eligibility reform is an implacable opposition by companies in the high tech sector because those companies are convinced that the...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

The Zombie Apocalypse of Patent Eligibility Reform and a Possible Escape Route

The hopes of anyone in favor of patent reform targeting 35 U.S.C § 101 have been official dashed -- or at least put on hold.  In an interview with the Intellectual Property Owner's association (IPO) last week, Senator Thom...more

Sunstein LLP

Federal Circuit Astonishingly Invalidates Manufacturing Method Patent…

Sunstein LLP on

In a breathtaking decision, the Federal Circuit has ruled that a patented method of making an automobile drive shaft is not eligible to be patented because it is “directed to a natural law.” In so ruling, the court has...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

The Uncertain Future of Patent Eligibility

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For many companies in many industries, patents are an important tool for driving innovation. At the same time, patents limit competition, so that companies must also be wary of their competitors’ patent portfolios. The result...more

Sunstein LLP

May 2019 IP Update: Bipartisan Legislation Develops to Remove Supreme Court Roadblocks to Biotechnology and Computer Science...

Sunstein LLP on

On April 17, 2019, Senators Tillis (R-NC) and Coons (D-DE), along with a bipartisan group of three members of the House of Representatives, announced the release of a framework on Section 101 patent reform. Senators Tillis...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

New USPTO Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Seeks to Standardize Abstract Idea Analysis

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The Supreme Court’s decisions in Mayo v. Prometheus and Alice Corp v. CLS Bank created a three-part test for determining subject matter eligibility of patent claims under 35 U.S.C. §101 that has unfortunately led to...more

Knobbe Martens

USPTO Revises Examination Procedure after Berkheimer

Knobbe Martens on

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued new guidance to patent examiners in light of the Federal Circuit’s recent holdings in Berkheimer v. HP Inc., 881 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2018) and Aatrix Software, Inc. v. Green...more

Vedder Price

Overcoming Early Alice Rejections in Litigation

Vedder Price on

In 2014, the United States Supreme Court in a landmark decision in the field of Patent Law (Alice Corp. v. CLS Int’l) invalidated software patents related to mitigating settlement risk. Relying on the now-infamous Section...more

McAfee & Taft

Two-step analysis to assist in determining patent eligibility

McAfee & Taft on

Napoleon Hill once famously said, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” However, what the mind of man can conceive is not necessarily patentable. Courts have long held that laws of nature,...more

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