Abstract idea isn’t patentable when tied to a computer

US Supreme Court’s ruling could make it more difficult to patent some types of software in the future

An abstract idea is not patentable simply because it is tied to a computer system, the US Supreme Court has ruled, potentially making it more difficult to patent some software in the future.

The computerised trading platform for currencies owned by Australian company Alice is too abstract to be patented, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously, in Alice v. CLS Bank, released Thursday. The Supreme Court upheld a May 2013 US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling in favour of CLS Bank, which operates a global currency exchange. The Supreme Court ruling invalidates the Alice patents.

The Alice patent at the heart of the case was to safeguard financial transactions against the risk that a party in the deal would renege. It was essentially a computerised version of what is known as “intermediated settlement,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority. “Merely requiring generic computer implementation fails to transform that abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention,” he added.

 

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The idea of using third parties to mitigate settlement risk is not new, Thomas wrote, and tying that to a computer doesn’t make it patentable.

“The mere recitation of a generic computer cannot transform a patent-ineligible abstract idea to a patent-eligible invention,” Thomas added.

The ruling is not a direct assault on software patents, as some critics had hoped. But it should make it more difficult to get weak patents approved, said Julie Samuels, executive director of tech entrepreneur trade group Engine Advocacy and a long-time critic of software patents.

The Supreme Court’s ruling “tightened up the standards for getting patents on generic-use computers and hardware, which will shore up the worst of the software patents,” she said by email. “So this ruling is great news. It’s the latest in a long line of [Supreme Court] cases that tighten up the standards of patentability, which means, in turn, that improve patent quality.”

The ruling is a broad one and leaves open some big questions, said Daniel Brownstone, an intellectual property lawyer with Fenwick and West in San Francisco.

“The court gave very little guidance as to how to identify an ‘abstract idea,’ which is a problem that has plagued its [patent law] jurisprudence,” he said by email. “Many patented inventions can be expressed in terms of abstract ideas.”

Brownstone said he expects continued challenges to software patents, “with accused infringers casting asserted patents as mere directions to implement abstract ideas on computers.”

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, which specialises in patent cases, will likely have to deal with more lawsuits to “identify the contours of an abstract idea,” he added.

 

Grant Gross, IDG News Service 

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placeholder: '+44 0000 000000', helpText: 'Include the JE country code +44 before the phone number', }, { countryCode: 'IM', placeholder: '+44 0000 000000', helpText: 'Include the IM country code +44 before the phone number', }, { countryCode: 'GG', placeholder: '+44 0000 000000', helpText: 'Include the GG country code +44 before the phone number', }, { countryCode: 'AL', placeholder: '+355 00 000 0000', helpText: 'Përfshini kodin e vendit AL +355 para numrit të telefonit', }, { countryCode: 'SM', placeholder: '+378 0000 000000', helpText: 'Includere il prefisso internazionale SM +378 prima del numero di telefono', }, { countryCode: 'FO', placeholder: '+298 000000', helpText: 'Inkluder FO landekode +298 før telefonnummeret', }, { countryCode: 'MT', placeholder: '+356 0000 0000', helpText: 'Include the MT country code +356 before the phone number', }, { countryCode: 'LI', placeholder: '+423 000 0000', helpText: 'Fügen Sie vor der Telefonnummer die LI-Ländervorwahl +423 ein', }, { countryCode: 'GI', placeholder: '+350 000 00000', helpText: 'Include the GI country code +350 before the phone number', }, { countryCode: 'MD', placeholder: '+373 00 000 000', helpText: 'Includeți codul de țară MD +373 înaintea numărului de telefon', }, { countryCode: 'HU', placeholder: '+36 00 000 0000', helpText: 'A telefonszám előtt adja meg a HU országkódot +36', }, { countryCode: 'NZ', placeholder: '+64 00 000 0000', helpText: 'Include the NZ country code +64 before the phone number', }, { countryCode: 'ME', placeholder: '+382 00 000 000', helpText: 'Uključite ME pozivni broj države +382 prije telefonskog broja', }, ]; if (!countryCode || typeof countryCode !== 'string') { return mockPlaceholders[0].helpText; } const selectedHelpText = mockPlaceholders.find(function(item) { return item && item.countryCode === countryCode; }); return selectedHelpText ? selectedHelpText.helpText : mockPlaceholders[0].helpText; } function setDefaultHelpText(countryCode) { const helpTextSpan = 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fieldName); updateCountryCodeInstruction(selectedCountry, fieldName); }); } document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() { const smsPhoneFields = document.querySelectorAll('[id^="country-select-"]'); smsPhoneFields.forEach(function(dropdown) { const fieldName = dropdown?.id.replace('country-select-', ''); initializeSmsPhoneDropdown(fieldName); }); });

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