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Next Step: Substantive Harmonization of Patent Eligibility?

Patent

Broad subject matter eligibility had a strong run from 1980-2014. Although eligibility in the U.S. was broad, Europe was somewhat more narrow on various fronts.  With Alice Corp v. CLS Bank and Mayo v. Prometheus, that framework is now historic. Although some amount of shaking-out is still ongoing, in many ways European subject matter eligibility is now broader than U.S. eligibility.

Now that those of us favoring broad eligibility have been taken-down several pegs, we may now have ripe timing for substantive harmonization on eligibility grounds both with Europe and through the Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP).

Right Round: Comparing US and European Software Patent Eligiblity

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Guest Post by Michael Williams. Williams is a UK and European Patent Attorney and Partner at the London based Cleveland-IP firm.

In the book “Through tAlicehe Looking-Glass”, Alice compares her drawing room to the one reflected in the mirror.  She notes that everything is the same “only the things go the other way”.

In the recent Alice Corp[1] decision, the US Supreme Court set out a framework for assessing whether claims are patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.  In this article I shall compare this framework with that used by the European Patent Office, and consider the similarities.

The US Alice Approach

In a memorandum dated June 24, 2014, the USTPO has set out its Preliminary Examination Instructions to the Patent Examining Corps in view of the Alice Corp decision[2].   In the Instructions, a three stage framework is set out which is summarized below:

  1. Determine whether the claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention, i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. If the claim does not fall within one of the categories, reject the claim as being directed to non-statutory subject matter (§ 101).
  2. If the claim does fall within a statutory category, determine whether the claim is directed to an abstract idea. If not, proceed with examination of the claim for compliance with other statutory requirements.
  3. If an abstract idea is present in the claims, determine whether any element, or combination of elements, in the claim is sufficient to ensure that the claim amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. If there are no meaningful limitations in the claim, reject the claim as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.

The Examiner should then proceed to examine the claim for other patentability requirements, whether or not a rejection under § 101 has been raised.

I have illustrated the three-stage “Alice” approach in Figure 1.

Fig1

The EPO approach

The approach of the EPO to claims with potentially excluded subject matter is summarised below.

  1. Examine the claim to establish whether it relates to excluded subject matter as such. This is done by assessing whether the claim has a technical character.  If there is no technical character at all, the claim is rejected under Article 52 EPC for relating to excluded subject matter as such[3] .
  2. If the claim has technical character, it is examined for novelty and inventive step. In the case of inventive step, it is determined whether the invention involves an inventive step in a technical field.  If the claim lacks an inventive step in a technical field it is rejected under Article 56 EPC.

In the case of a claim with a mix of technical and non-technical features, the following steps are followed when assessing inventive step[4]:

  1. Identify the non-technical aspects of the claim,
  2. Select the closest prior art on the basis of the technical aspects,
  3. Identify the technical differences from the closest prior art,
  4. Determine whether or not the technical differences are obvious.

If there are no technical differences, or if the technical differences are obvious, the claim is rejected for lack of inventive step.

I have illustrated the overall approach in Figure 2.  In order to facilitate comparison, I have separated the approach into stages which correspond roughly with those of the USPTO approach.  I have also assumed that there are differences between the claimed invention and the prior art (otherwise there would be lack of novelty).

Fig2

Comparison of the two approaches

A comparison of the flow charts in Figures 1 and 2 shows a striking similarity between the first stages of each approach.  In each case, it is in effect determined whether the claim relates to no more than excluded, or ineligible, subject matter.  In both cases this acts as a filter to weed out claims which do not have any technical subject matter.

The second stages of each approach also bear comparison.  In the case of the EPO, it is determined whether or not the claim includes both technical and non-technical features.  In the case of the USPTO it is determined whether the claim is directed to a (non-technical) abstract idea.  However, since the claim must contain some technical subject matter (or it would have been weeded out at stage one), this is akin to determining whether there is a mix of technical and non-technical features. In both cases, the second stage flags up cases where there might still be a problem with excluded subject matter.

In the third stage of each approach we come to the nub of the matter.  It is here that borderline cases will stand or fall.  It is therefore worthwhile analysing this stage of each approach.

In the case of the EPO approach, the technical and non-technical features of the claim are first separated out.  The technical features which are not present in the prior art are then identified.  It is then determined whether or not those technical features are non-obvious.  In doing so, it is assumed that the non-technical features are already present in the prior art.  If the technical features which are not present in the prior art are obvious, the claim is rejected for lack of inventive step.

In the case of the USPTO approach, stage three involves determining whether there are any elements in the claim which amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.  This in effect requires two steps, as follows:

  1. Identify the elements which are not an abstract idea, and
  2. Determine whether those elements amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.

It is notable that step a is similar to the EPO approach of identifying the non-technical aspects of the claim.

With regard to step b, this begs the question: how much more is “significantly more”?  According to the Instructions there must be “meaningful limitations” in the claim, but how meaningful do they have to be?

We can assume that the elements which must be “significantly more” than the abstract idea are technical (since otherwise the claim would have been weeded out at stage one).  It is also the case that, in order to be “significantly more”, those technical elements must be meaningful.  If they must be meaningful, does this mean they must contain the inventive concept?

My guess is that, in practice, persuading the USPTO to allow claims of this type is probably going to involve arguing that the elements which are significantly more than the abstract idea are somehow tied in with the inventive concept.  Otherwise they would not be “meaningful”.  This then starts looking very much like arguing for non-obvious technical subject matter; in other words, an inventive step in a technical field.

There will of course be differences between the two approaches, not least due an imprecise alignment of the concepts of “abstract” and “non-technical”.  However it seems to me that both approaches are seeking to achieve something similar, namely, an assessment of whether the innovation itself lies in a non-excluded field.

Thus, to my mind, we are now in a situation where, in practice, the two approaches are considerably aligned, albeit “the other way round”.

Alice2Conclusion

As readers of the book will recall, when Alice actually goes through the looking glass, she finds it to be completely different from what she first saw.  I suspect that, as case law and practice develop, we will find that USPTO and EPO practice will differ.  However it is notable that, at least on the face of it, there are now considerable similarities.

= = = = =

[1] Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. V CLS Bank International, et al

[2] http://www.uspto.gov/patents/announce/alice_pec_25jun2014.pdf

[3] Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office G-II, 2.

[4] Guidelines G-VII, 5.4

Patent Invalid for Unduly Preempting the Field of “Automatic Lip Synchronization For Computer-Generated 3D Animation Using a Rules-Based Morph Target Approach”

Patent, ,

by Dennis Crouch

McRO (Planet Blue) v. Activision Blizzard, et al. (C.D. Cal. 2014) Decision PDF

In his second major Section 101 decision in as many weeks, Judge Wu (C.D. Cal) has relied upon Alice Corp. (2014) to invalidate all of McRO’s asserted patent claims.  The case is quite important because it is one of the first major applications of Alice Corp. to invalidate non-business-method claims.  Here, the invention is directed toward a specific technological problem that had troubled the field of animation – automatically animating lip synchronization and facial expression of animated characters. See U.S. Patent Nos. 6,307,576 (“‘576 Patent”) and 6,611,278 (“‘278 Patent”).  The appeal will be interesting and may serve as one of the Federal Circuit’s first opportunities to draw a new line in the sand.

The problem addressed by the invention is that it has been historically quite difficult to match-up animation audio and video — so that the character’s mouth and face are moving to match the sound overlay.  Historically, this has been very expensive and time consuming to do well. What you might call the ‘gist’ of the invention is simply a data transformation — from an audio signal to a visual animation output.  The details are a bit more technical. According to claim 1 of the ‘278 patent, the invention operates by first creating a set of phoneme sequences keyed to a pre-recorded audio sequence. Then, those phenome sequences are used to create a set of morph-weight-set streams (based upon a set of factors provided by the animators).  Those morph-streams are then used as input sequences for the animated characters to provide both timing and movement of facial expressions, including emotion.   The inventions claim priority back to 1997.

1. A method for automatically animating lip synchronization and facial expression of three-dimensional characters comprising:

obtaining a first set of rules that defines a morph weight set stream as a function of phoneme sequence and times associated with said phoneme sequence;

obtaining a plurality of sub-sequences of timed phonemes corresponding to a desired audio sequence for said three-dimensional characters;

generating an output morph weight set stream by applying said first set of rules to each sub-sequence of said plurality of sub-sequences of timed phonemes; and

applying said output morph weight set stream to an input sequence of animated characters to generate an output sequence of animated characters with lip and facial expression synchronized to said audio sequence.

In writing about this patent claim, Judge Wu noted that – in isolation – it appears tangible and specific rather than abstract.

They are tangible, each covering an approach to automated three-dimensional computer animation, which is a specific technological process. They do not claim a monopoly, as Defendants argue, on “the idea that the human mouth looks a certain way while speaking particular sounds,” “applied to the field of animation.” Further, the patents do not cover the prior art methods of computer assisted, but non-automated, lip synchronization for three-dimensional computer animation.

Further, the defendants raised a defense of non-infringement – explaining that their particular method of automated lip synchronization is not even covered by the patents. Thus, Judge Wu writes: “At first blush, it is therefore difficult to see how the claims might implicate the ‘basic underlying concern that these patents tie up too much future use of’ any abstract idea they apply.”

However, Judge Wu recognized that the Supreme Court’s analysis of Alice Corp was not done in a vacuum but rather made reference to what was already known in the the art and asked whether the claimed invention extended that knowledge with an inventive concept that goes beyond a mere abstract idea.  In Judge Wu’s words the Section 101 eligibility of “the claims must be evaluated in the context of the prior art.”

Judge Wu’s approach was to identify the point-of-novelty for the claimed invention and then consider whether that point-of-novelty was itself an abstract idea.  That approach was made easy because the patents admitted that many elements of the invention were already part of thee prior art.  However, the patents claimed the new elements as the use of rules that define morph sets as a function of the phonemes which the court sees an an abstract idea that cannot be patented because it would allow the patentee to “preempt the field of automatic lip synchronization for computer-generated 3D animation … using a rules-based morph target approach.” Thus, the claims are invalid.

Judge Wu does show some sympathy to the patentee here — indicating that it appears to be a nice and important invention – just one that is not patent eligible.

But a § 101 defect does not mean that the invention was in the prior art. The invention here may have been novel, but the claims are directed to an abstract idea. And the patent’s casual – and honest – description of the prior art was made at a time when, under the then-prevalent interpretation of the law, such admissions were unlikely to be harmful. One
unintended consequence of Alice, and perhaps of this and other decisions to come, is an incentive for patent applicants to say as little as possible about the prior art in their applications.

Although he does not cite the Supreme Court’s 1946 decision in Halliburton v. Walker, Judge Wu does offer closing remarks that hearken back to the principle that patent claims must be specific at the point-of-novelty.  He writes: “This case illustrates the danger that exists when the novel portions of an invention are claimed too broadly.”

There are many interesting aspects to the decision, but I wanted to post these initial thoughts before moving forward.

Judge Bryson: Computerized Loyalty-Point Conversion System Not Patent Eligible

Patent,

Loyalty Conversion Systems v. American Airlines (E.D. Texas 2014) LoyaltyConversion101Decision

Data processing and business method patents continue to fall like dominoes. In this case, Federal Circuit Judge Bryson – sitting by designation in the Eastern District of Texas – has determined on the pleadings that Loyalty’s reward-program patent is ineligible based upon the recent Supreme Court cases of Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S.Ct. 2347 (2014) and Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 132 S.Ct. 1289 (2012).

Loyalty’s two patents are recently issued but claim priority back to a 2006 filing. U.S. Patent Nos. 8,313,023 (“the ′023 patent”) and 8,511,550 (“the ′550 patent”).  The inventors appear to be corporate lawyer Sean McGhie and patent attorney Brian Buchheit. The litigation is apparently being controlled by ITUS Corp (Robert Berman) although no assignments are listed for the patents in the US Patent Office website.

The basic goal behind the invention is to open-up the buying power of customer reward points. This goal is accomplished by allowing customers to transfer reward-points (and their typical limited buying power) for a more negotiable instrument.  The claims include a number of computers sending, displaying and storing messages back and forth in order to accomplish the aforementioned goal.  However, the patent proposes no advance in computer technology per se, other than perhaps being the first to propose the sending and storing of messages in the particular sequence identified.

Judge Bryson writes:

Notwithstanding the prolixity of the claims, they recite a very simple invention: a computer-driven method and computer program for converting one vendor’s loyalty award credits into loyalty award credits of another vendor. In principle, the invention is thus the equivalent of a currency exchange as applied to loyalty award credits such as airline frequent flyer miles or hotel loyalty award points. The Court concludes that the invention claimed in the ′023 and ′550 patents is not fundamentally different from the kinds of commonplace financial transactions that were the subjects of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Bilski v. Kappos, 130 S. Ct. 3218 (2010), and Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S.Ct. 2347 (2014), in which the Court held patent claims invalid for failing to recite patentable subject matter. This case falls squarely within the principles announced in those cases. Accordingly, the Court holds that the asserted claims of the ′023 and ′550 patents are invalid. . . .

In light of Bilski and CLS Bank, the resolution of the section 101 issue in this case is straightforward. At their core, the asserted claims of the two patents in suit are directed to the conversion of loyalty award points of one vendor into loyalty award points of another. That core idea plainly would not be patentable without more, as it is indistinguishable in principle from the simple and familiar financial or business operations that were at issue in Bilski and CLS Bank, as well as similar financial operations at issue in various Federal Circuit decisions in which the claims were held to be invalid under section 101. See Accenture Global Servs., GmbH v. Guidewire Software, Inc., 728 F.3d 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (“system for generating tasks to be performed in an insurance organization”); Bancorp Servs., L.L.C. v. Sun Life Assurance Co., 687 F.3d 1266 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (method for managing a life insurance policy, including generating the policy, calculating fees, and determining the surrender value and investment value of the policy); Dealertrack, Inc. v. Huber, 674 F.3d 1315 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (method for processing credit applications); Fort Props., Inc. v. Am. Master Lease LLC, 671 F.3d 1317 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (method for creating a real estate investment instrument adapted for performing tax-deferred exchanges); CyberSource Corp. v. Retail Decisions, Inc., 654 F.3d 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (method for verifying the validity of credit card transactions). If anything, the conversion process at the core of the claims in this case is simpler and more commonplace than some of the methods held unpatentable in the cases cited above.

Regarding the computer technology elements of the claim, Judge Bryson dismissed those as “largely functional in nature” and that the resulting claims “do little more than set forth the general concept of currency exchange, as applied to loyalty awards, and then announce the use of ‘one or more’ computers to obtain various efficiencies in the process of converting one type of loyalty award credits into another.”  In the decision, Judge Bryson stepped through each of the technological limitations of the asserted claims and concluded that none offered the ‘something more’ required by the Supreme Court.

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Procedurally, this case is important as a dismissal-on-the-pleadings — i.e., quite early in the case.  For defendants – this means a major cost savings.

The standard for this type of dismissal are defined by Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and  is “designed to dispose of cases where the material facts are not in dispute and a judgment on the merits can be rendered by looking to the substance of the pleadings and any judicially noticed facts.” Great Plains Trust Co v. Morgan Stanley, 313 F.3d 305 (5th Cir. 2002). The approach is akin to summary judgment and considers: “whether, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, the complaint states a valid claim for relief.”

The dismissal on the pleadings is somewhat workable here because subject matter eligibility is a question of law that is largely based upon an introspective look at the patent document.  Of course some outside reference points are: is it an inventive concept? Further, a case potentially turn on claim construction.  In his opinion, Judge Bryson recognized these complications but noted that the parties “have not pointed to any factual issues that could affect” the eligibility analysis.  Further, Judge Bryson waited to make his decision until after a claim construction hearing to likewise ensure that claim construction would not affect the outcome of the 101 analysis.

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Claim 1 of the 550 patent is as follows:

  1. A method comprising:

a computer serving a set of one or more Web pages for a loyalty program of an entity to one or more remotely located client machines, wherein the Web pages are able to be rendered within a client-side browser as a graphical user interface on the one or more client machines, wherein upon being rendered within the client-side browser said graphical user interface shows a quantity of nonnegotiable credits, wherein said non-negotiable credits are loyalty points of the loyalty program possessed by a member, wherein upon being rendered within the client-side browser the graphical user interface comprises a conversion option to convert at least a subset of the shown non-negotiable credits into a quantity [of] entity independent funds, wherein said entity independent funds are different loyalty points of a different loyalty program of a commerce partner, wherein said entity independent funds are possessed by the member, wherein an agreement exists between the entity and the commerce partner, wherein the agreement permits members to convert the non-negotiable credits to the entity independent funds in accordance with a fixed credits-to-funds conversion ratio, wherein the agreement specifies that the entity is to compensate the commerce partner in an agreed upon amount of cash or credit for conversions of non-negotiable credits to entity independent funds, wherein said agreed upon amount is a multiple of a quantity of converted non-negotiable credits, wherein the entity independent funds are redeemable per the different loyalty program for commerce partner goods or for commerce partner services, wherein the commerce partner is not said entity, wherein in [the] absence of being converted the non-negotiable credits are not accepted as payment for commerce partner goods or for commerce partner services;

the computer responsive to receiving a message indicating a selection of the conversion option, processing the selection to effectuate changes in the served set of Web pages; and

responsive to the processing, the computer serving one or more Web pages or Web page updates that include the effectuated changes to the one or more remotely located client machines, wherein upon being rendered within the client-side browser the graphical user interface is updated with the effectuated changes, wherein the updated graphical user interface shows a reduced quantity of non-negotiable credits possessed by the member in the loyalty program, said reduced quantity resulting at least in part from the subset of non-negotiable credits being converted into the quantity of entity independent funds in accordance with the fixed credits-to-funds conversion ratio.

Judge Mayer: Subject Matter Eligibility Must be Decided First Even if Not Raised by Either Party on Appeal

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By Dennis Crouch

Alexsam, Inc. v. IDT Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2013)

I recently posted on Alexsam’s pending litigation in the Eastern District of Texas. In that case, the jury sided with the patentee Alexsam and rejected the defendants’ arguments that the patent was invalid. The appeal here involves the same patents directed to a system for activating gift cards at the time that they are purchased. See U.S. Patent No. 6,000,608. The most interesting aspect of the decision comes from Judge Mayer’s dissent where he argued that asserted patent claims “disclose nothing more than an abstract idea for making a business run more efficiently, thereby failing to meet the subject matter eligibility requirements set forth in 35 U.S.C. § 101.”

The claim issue (Claim 57) reads as follows:

A multifunction card system comprising:

a. at least one card having a unique identification number encoded on it, said identification number comprising a bank identification number approved by the American Banking Association for use in a banking network;

b. a transaction processor receiving card activation data from an unmodified existing standard retail point-of-sale device, said card activation data including said unique identification number;

c. a processing hub receiving directly or indirectly said activation data from said transaction processor; and

d. said processing hub activating an account corresponding to the unique identification number, thereby permitting later access to said account.

To reach his conclusion that the claim fails to disclose eligible subject matter, Judge Mayer first began by identifying the core inventive concept of the claim. Here, the idea behind the patent is that it allows a card to be activated by swiping it through the terminal used for processing credit card transactions rather than having a dedicated activation terminal. The benefit of that approach is that no special equipment is needed for activating gift cards and the patent application states that no new technology is required in order to allow standard point-of-sale devices to activate gift cards.

The way Judge Mayer describes this setup immediately raises novelty and obviousness concerns in my mind. Indeed, Judge Mayer writes that the case “presents the anomalous situation in which a patentee attempts to preserve the validity of his claims by arguing that they contain nothing new.” Ordinarily, when patent claims “contain nothing new,” they are found invalid for lacking novelty or nonobviousness. Indeed, millions of patent claims are rejected each year by the USPTO for this very reason. And, the primary thrust of the US patent examination system is to ensure that patents are only issued for inventions that are sufficiently new. In this case, the defendants argued that claims were obvious and anticipated as a matter of law. However, instead of addressing that issue that was actually appealed, Judge Mayer focused on the Subject Matter Eligibility that was not raised on appeal – seeing subject matter eligibility as a threshold issue that must be decided first:

Whether claims are directed to statutory subject matter is a “threshold” question, Bilski v. Kappos, 130 S. Ct. 3218, 3225 (2010), which must be addressed before this court can consider subordinate issues related to obviousness and infringement. See Parker v. Flook, 437 U.S. 584, 593 (1978) (“Flook”) (emphasizing that “[t]he obligation to determine what type of discovery is sought to be patented” so as to determine whether it falls within the ambit of section 101 “must precede the determination of whether that discovery is, in fact, new or obvious” (emphasis added)); In re Comiskey, 554 F.3d 967, 973 (Fed. Cir. 2009) (“Only if the requirements of § 101 are satisfied is the inventor allowed to pass through to the other requirements for patentability, such as novelty under § 102 and . . . non-obviousness under § 103.” (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)).

In our 2010 article, Professor Robert Merges and I argued that the law does not require the “threshold” question be decided in any particular order. See Dennis Crouch & Robert P. Merges, Operating Efficiently Post-Bilski by Ordering Patent Doctrine Decision-Making, 25 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 1673 (2010). Indeed, thresholds are crossed all throughout a journey. Judge Mayer is in the minority on this point of doctrinal ordering. Although rejecting some of our arguments, the CLS Bank plurality opinion agreed with Merges and myself that “district courts may exercise their discretion to begin elsewhere when they perceive that another section of the Patent Act might provide a clearer and more expeditious path to resolving a dispute.” (Citing Merges & Crouch).

The second major problem with Judge Mayer’s dissent is the implicit ruling that Subject Matter Eligibility is not waivable and instead should be raised sua sponte by an appellate court. Here, the §101 eligibility question was not raised by the defendant-appellants in the appeal, nor were they discussed in oral arguments. In the past, both Judges Mayer and Dyk have raised §101 issues sua sponte on appeal — essentially finding that subject matter eligibility questions are on par with the issue of a court’s subject matter jurisdiction.

Finally, Judge Mayer’s decision highlights the failure the CLS Bank decision – because there was no majority opinion in that case, Judge Mayer did not feel the need to even cite that recent pronouncement by the court that directly relates to the case at hand.

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Sanctions: The district court awarded sanctions to the patentee for the defendants’ litigation misconduct in failing to provide to satisfy the appropriate discovery requests regarding the accused systems. The sanction was quite harsh. In particular, the district court deemed several accused systems were infringing as a sanction for ITD’s failure to disclose the fact that its cards contain BINs in their card numbers. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the sanction. I suspect that the “Patent Abuse Reduction Act” would further embolden accused infringers to play discovery games by avoiding disclosing key information or admitting key facts that would greatly simplify the litigation.

= = = = =

Unpaid License Still a License: Some of IDTs systems use the MasterCard computer network. That is important because MasterCard has obtained a license from Alexsam to practice the invention. The agreement specifically states that other parties (such as IDT) that are using the MasterCard computer network will be “deemed sublicensed under an implied sublicense.” As part of the agreement, MasterCard is also required to report the total number of licensed transactions to Alexsam at the end of each month, and to pay a fee for each transaction. In this case, however, MasterCard never reported IDT as a sublicensee or paid the required royalties. On appeal, the Federal Circuit agreed with IDT that the MasterCard related sales were licensed and that IDT is therefore not liable for those. In reaching its conclusions, the court noted that the MasterCard agreement did not condition the sublicense on payment of the royalties. Further, the court the cited to its decision in Tessera, Inc. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, No. 2010-1176, 2011 WL 1944067 (Fed. Cir. 2011) where it held that failure to pay royalties “did not convert authorized sales into unauthorized sales.”

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Patentable Subject Matter: Supreme Court Challenges Chief Judge Rader’s Broad Notion of Software Patentability

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by Dennis Crouch

WIldTangent v. Ultramercial (Supreme Court 2012) Docket No 11-962

The Supreme Court has rejected another Federal Circuit patentable subject matter decision with a GVR and has ordered the appellate court to review its patentability decision with further consideration of Mayo Collaborative Services v.Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 566 U.S. ___ (2012). In its standard GVR language, the Supreme Court wrote:

The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted [G]. The judgment is vacated [V], and the case is remanded [R] to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for further consideration in light of Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 566 U.S. ___ (2012).

The patent at issue in this case claims a particular method for distributing copyrighted products over the Internet. Patent No. 7,346,545. The basic gist of the invention is that the consumer receives a copyrighted product in exchange for viewing an advertisement — and it all takes place over the internet and with a particular monetization scheme.

In its broadly written opinion, the Federal Circuit (Rader, C.J.) found the claimed invention patentable under Section 101 based upon the requirement that a computer be used to perform the method and the programming complexity required to carry out the claimed elements. The court wrote that while “the mere idea that advertising can be used as a form of currency is abstract, just as the vague, unapplied concept of hedging proved patent-ineligible in Bilski,…the ‘545 patent does not simply claim the age-old idea that advertising can serve as a currency. Instead, the ‘545 patent discloses a practical application of this idea.”

Following the Federal Circuit decision in Ultramercial, the Supreme Court decided Mayo v. Prometheus. In that case, the Supreme Court rejected the Prometheus patent as effectively encompassing an unpatentable law of nature. That revives the historic notion that the scope of knowledge held in the prior art is an important aspect of the Section 101 analysis.

The Supreme Court issued a parallel GVR in the gene-patent case of Myriad Genetics. Other pending 101 appeals include Fort Properties v. American Master Lease (en banc petition); Accenture Global v. Guidewire; Bancorp Services v. Sun Life; and others.

Claim one the ‘545 patent reads as follows:

1. A method for distribution of products over the Internet via a facilitator, said method comprising the steps of:

a first step of receiving, from a content provider, media products that are covered by intellectual-property rights protection and are available for purchase, wherein each said media product being comprised of at least one of text data, music data, and video data;

a second step of selecting a sponsor message to be associated with the media product, said sponsor message being selected from a plurality of sponsor messages, said second step including accessing an activity log to verify that the total number of times which the sponsor message has been previously presented is less than the number of transaction cycles contracted by the sponsor of the sponsor message;

a third step of providing the media product for sale at an Internet website;

a fourth step of restricting general public access to said media product;

a fifth step of offering to a consumer access to the media product without charge to the consumer on the precondition that the consumer views the sponsor message;

a sixth step of receiving from the consumer a request to view the sponsor message, wherein the consumer submits said request in response to being offered access to the media product;

a seventh step of, in response to receiving the request from the consumer, facilitating the display of a sponsor message to the consumer;

an eighth step of, if the sponsor message is not an interactive message, allowing said consumer access to said media product after said step of facilitating the display of said sponsor message;

a ninth step of, if the sponsor message is an interactive message, presenting at least one query to the consumer and allowing said consumer access to said media product after receiving a response to said at least one query;

a tenth step of recording the transaction event to the activity log, said tenth step including updating the total number of times the sponsor message has been presented; and

an eleventh step of receiving payment from the sponsor of the sponsor message displayed.

Red Hat Faces Patent Infringement Suit

Patent

Software company FireStar has filed suit against open source seller Red Hat, alleging patent infringement.  The suit, filed in the Eastern District of Texas, asserts infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,101,502 that is directed to a method of interfacing an object oriented software application with a relational database.  Red Hat recently purched JBoss maker of the specific accused product Hibernate 3.0.

Claim 1 of the ‘502 patent reads:

1. A method for interfacing an object oriented software application with a relational database, comprising the steps of:

  • selecting an object model;
  • generating a map of at least some relationships between schema in the database and the selected object model;
  • employing the map to create at least one interface object associated with an object corresponding to a class associated with the object oriented software application; and
  • utilizing a runtime engine which invokes said at least one interface object with the object oriented application to access data from the relational database.

Red Hat has its own patent policy “that software patents generally impede innovation in software development and that software patents are inconsistent with open source/free software.”

Notes:

  • File Attachment: FireStar Complaint.pdf (140 KB)
  • File Attachment: Patent 6101502.pdf (593 KB)
  • File History [Not yet]

      • Nike’s Patent Saga Highlights Controversial PTAB Practices

      Patent

      by Dennis Crouch

      The pending petition in Nike v. Adidas asks the Supreme Court whether it is proper for the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) to raise sua sponte new grounds of unpatentability against a substitute claim added during an inter partes review proceeding. The government, as a respondent in this case, argues that the PTAB can create its own reasons for rejecting newly-added claims so long as the patent owner is given sufficient notice and a chance to respond.

      However, the case intrigue has recently heightened due to a somewhat chaotic saga involving the PTAB. Key figures involved include former PTAB Chief Judge Ruschke, current Chief Judge Boalick, and Judge Michael Fitzpatrick, who was recently justified as a wronged-whistleblower.

      nike shoe

      The Supreme Court petition was submitted amidst revelations of secretive maneuvers within the Board. These questionable practices include an abrupt panel expansions and judge replacement without notifying involved parties. Specifically, in the Nike v. Adidas IPR, the Board panel was first expanded to include Chief Judge Ruschke and then Deputy Chief Judge Boalick after all parties had finished their arguments and opinion writing had begun. The process also witnessed the replacement of Judge Fitzpatrick after he expressed discontent over the panel’s expansion, prompting his removal from all America Invents Act (AIA) cases.

      Judge Fitzpatrick’s ousting ignited a legal battle against the USPTO, which recently concluded with a victory for Fitzpatrick at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Fitzpatrick alleged that the USPTO had manipulated the inter partes review process in the Nike v. Adidas case, inappropriately expanding the PTAB review panel and delaying the final decision. Furthermore, Fitzpatrick’s whistleblowing disclosures extended beyond the PTAB, unearthing a misrepresentation by the Solicitor General to the Supreme Court regarding the frequency of expanded panels during the Oil States proceedings. In briefing in the case, the Solicitor General recently apologized to the Supreme Court, expressing regret for the unintended misinformation.  The SG’s brief indicates that they only recently learned of the underlying drama.

      In light of these troubling revelations, the Solicitor General suggests the Supreme Court grant, vacate, and remand Nike v. Adidas, offering the petitioner a chance to present arguments based on this new information to the Federal Circuit, and allowing the Federal Circuit to consider these points in the first instance.

      Interestingly, this practice of unannounced judge replacements parallels the Federal Circuit’s tactics in the infamous Novartis case. Although the Adidas name is still on the case, the company has formally requested not to be involved in the appeal, citing a settlement reached with Nike.

       

      Guest Post by Professor Chien: Inequality, Innovation, and Patents

      Patent

      Guest post by Colleen V. Chien, Associate Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law. Thanks to the USPTO Office of the Chief Economist and Innography for sharing patent data.

      Just over a week ago, the United States proposed tariffs on over 1,000 Chinese imports in response to various intellectual property grievances. China responded with a number of proposed counter-tariffs. One of the most notable, as well as unfortunate, aspects of China’s proposed tariffs—which heavily target American soybeans and pork—is that harms to U.S. producers would apparently disproportionately fall on certain Midwestern states that had previously benefited from access to Chinese markets.

      I argue in a new working paper focused on the often-overlooked question of how innovation is distributed among various settings that just as trade creates winners and losers, so too does patented innovation. Advances in the accessibility and quality of open patent data, largely made possible by the USPTO’s Office of the Chief Economist, provide a way to explore distributional questions that have long been at the heart of the patent system.  Specifically, the data can give insight into the participation of small and independent innovators, the role of foreigners, and geographic and corporate concentration of patenting. It has also allowed recent discussions regarding who becomes an inventor and the extent to which innovation creates or destroys jobs.

      As the paper documents, shifts in patented innovation over the last several decades have contributed to broader social and economic shifts away from manufacturing-based, domestic, and independent innovation, and towards digital, foreign, coastal, and corporate innovation – validating both optimistic accounts of immigration-driven, digital prosperity and pessimistic accounts of the shrinking role of domestic, manufacturing-based innovation. As the Figure[1] below shows, the shift in innovation towards urban and coastal locations also corresponds with, though is not necessarily caused by, the more liberal political attitudes of these areas. Also discussed in the paper are left and right wing “patent populism” – targeting both powerful IP “maximalists” and powerful IP “minimalists.”

      Fig. 1F: 2015 Patents per 10K Capita                  Fig. 1G: 2016 Presidential Election Results

      County Patent Density % Trump % Clinton
      <3 patents 66.1% 39.9%
      3+ patents 32.9% 67.1%

      Data Sources: USPTO,[2] US Census,[3] Data.world (election data),[4]Author’s Analysis, Distributions calculated based on covered population in counties

      However, to those of us who participate in the patent system, perhaps what is most striking is the increasingly unequal distribution of new patents to the point where 53%  of patent grants in 2016 were issued to the top 1% of grantees (up from 38% in 1986). Industry effects are strong, with some 83% of 2016 “electrical engineering” patents[5] going to the top 10% (as compared to 61% of chemistry[6] patents), but cannot explain the long-term trend. As the paper also details, while patent inequality is at a historic high, the share of small and micro entity patenting also appears to be at its lowest point in recent decades, though, not for the reasons you might suspect. (You’ll need to read the paper for the full story.)

      Data Sources: USPTO PatentsView, Innography

      Some of implications of the data are discussed in the paper, which raises more questions than it answers. Whatever one takes from them, however, it is clear, at least in my mind, that there is much to be learned by looking at not just the amount of patented innovation, but at how it is distributed.

      [1] Produced by the talented Santa Clara Law 3L student Jerome Ma.

      [2] 2015 Patent Listing by US County (available at https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports_cbsa.htm)

      [3] https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2017/demo/popest/counties-total.html

      [4] https://data.world/garyhoov/2016-pres-election-by-county

      [5] A category defined by the scheme used by WIPO laid out by Shmoch, as including digital communications, computer technology, communications processes, telecommunications, and semiconductors.

      [6] A category defined by the scheme used by WIPO laid out by Shmoch, as including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemistry and environmental innovations.

       

      Intellectual Ventures Software Patents Too Generic (i.e., Abstract)

      Patent,

      by Dennis Crouch

      On appeal, the Federal Circuit has affirmed that Intellectual Ventures’ asserted patent claims are invalid for lacking eligible subject matter. Intellectual Ventures v. Capital One (Fed. Cir. 2015) (Patent Nos. 8,083,137, 7,603,382, and 7,260,587).

      The basic idea behind the patent ‘137 patent is to help users budget and then stick to their budget. Incredibly important task that many of us find quite challenging.  The court identified Claim 5 as representative.  That claim includes two steps: (1) storing a user profile with a set of categories – each with a pre-set budget limit; an (2) transmitting a summary of transactions for a category along with the pre-set budget limit.  Claim text:

      5. A method comprising:

      storing, in a database, a [user] profile … containing one or more user-selected categories to track transactions associated with said user identity, wherein individual user-selected categories include a user pre-set limit; and

      causing communication, over a communication medium and to a receiving device, of transaction summary data in the database for at least one of the one or more user-selected categories, said transaction summary data containing said at least one user-selected category’s user pre-set limit.

      In reading this claim in the context of Alice Corp., the Federal Circuit first found it directed to the abstract idea of “tracking financial transactions to determine whether they exceed a pre-set spending limit (i.e., budgeting).”  In Alice Corp. step two, the court found no inventive concept: “it is clear that the claims contain no inventive concept. . . . Instructing one to ‘apply’ an abstract idea and reciting no more than generic computer elements performing generic computer tasks does not make an abstract idea patent eligible.”

      The court similarly agreed that the claims of the ‘382 patent are also ineligible. Claim 1 provides:

      A system for providing web pages accessed from a web site in a manner which presents the web pages tailored to an individual user, comprising:

      an interactive interface configured to provide dynamic web site navigation data to the user, the interactive interface comprising:

      a display depicting portions of the web site visited by the user as a function of the web site navigation data; and

      a display depicting portions of the web site visited by the user as a function of the user’s personal characteristics.

      Thus, the claim relates generally to a system for customizing information based upon information known about a user and also web-site navigation data (such a the time-of-day a site is being visited). With Alice Corp. step 1, the court agreed that the aforementioned gist is in fact an abstract idea because such information tailoring is “a fundamental . . . practice long prevalent in our system . . . .” Quoting Alice Corp. Regarding Alice Corp step 2, the court found no inventive concept.  Intellectual ventures had argued that its approach provided a dynamic and real-time application of the concepts — however, the court rejected that argument on its facts — finding that “the claims are not so limited.”

      Of special concern for the patentees here is the claimed “interactive interface” configured to implement the method.  Intellectual Ventures argued that device provided an inventive application of the broader idea.  The Federal Circuit disagreed – finding that “nowhere does Intellectual Ventures assert that it invented an interactive interface …. Rather, the interactive interface limitation is a generic computer element.”

      Intellectual Ventures third patent included claims with more substance, including a process of sorting, scanning, and organizing images obtained from hard copy prints.  However, those asserted claims were found not-infringed.

      Judge Newman: Functional Claim at Point of Novelty => Abstract Idea

      Patent, , ,

      by Dennis Crouch

      Internet Patents Corp. v. Active Networks (Fed. Cir. 2015)

      In an opinion by Judge Newman, the Federal Circuit has affirmed the lower court dismissal of IPC’s infringement lawsuit — holding that the claims of U.S. Patent No 7,707,505 are invalid for lacking patent eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101 as interpreted by Alice Corp.

      The claims are directed to a method of providing a multi-pane (tab) user interface with icons as follows:

      1. A method of providing an intelligent user interface to an online application comprising the steps of:

      furnishing a plurality of icons on a web page displayed to a user of a web browser, wherein each of said icons is a hyperlink to a dynamically generated online application form set, and wherein said web browser comprises Back and Forward navigation functionalities;

      displaying said dynamically generated online application form set in response to the activation of said hyperlink, wherein said dynamically generated online application form set comprises a state determined by at least one user input; and

      maintaining said state upon the activation of another of said icons, wherein said maintaining allows use of said Back and Forward navigation functionalities without loss of said state.

      Walking through the two-step analysis of Alice Corp., Judge Newman first identified the gist of the invention or “the basic character of the subject matter.”   In reading the patent document, the court found that it described the “most important aspect” of the invention is that it “maintains data state across all [browser] panes.”  In other words, the basic function of the invention is “the idea of retaining information in the navigation of online forms.”  Without further analysis, Judge Newman identified this basic function as an unpatentable abstract idea and immediately moved to Alice/Mayo step-2.

      In Step 2, the Supreme Court instructs us to seek-out an “inventive concept” within the claims that goes beyond the unpatentable abstract idea and that is more than “well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known.”  In reviewing the claim, Judge Newman could find nothing beyond conventional browser elements and the claimed end-result of “maintaining [the] state.”  However, that final and admittedly critical element of the invention was not limited to any particular method or mechanism and thus remained abstract.

      The mechanism for maintaining the state is not described, although this is stated to be the essential innovation. The court concluded that the claim is directed to the idea itself—the abstract idea of avoiding loss of data. IPC’s proposed interpretation of “maintaining state” describes the effect or result dissociated from any method by which maintaining the state is accomplished upon the activation of an icon. Thus we affirm that claim 1 is not directed to patent-eligible subject matter.

      The court also invalidated parallel system and computer claims — noting that “the statement that the method is performed by computer does not satisfy the test of ‘inventive concept.'”  The court also held that dependent claim limitations requiring differing responses to ‘quasistatic’ and ‘dynamically generated’ content was insufficient to overcome the Section 101 hurdle because they merely represent “the siting the ineligible concept in a particular technological environment.”

      = = = = =

      Judges Moore and Reyna joined Judge Newman on the panel.

      = = = = =

      Major case here that again appears to coincide with the ongoing battles over functional claim limitations.  Here, Judge Newman focuses on the reality that the admittedly fundamental aspect of the invention was claimed in functional form without providing any limitations as to its particular mechanism of function.  Result: unpatentable as an abstract idea.

      = = = = =

      Mike Borella covers the case at Patent Docs. (“The general rule that many of us follow post-Alice is to draft rich, detailed, technical specifications, and undoubtedly we will double-down on that approach in light of this decision.”)

       

       

      Ultramercial Shoots for the Moon

      Patent, ,

      In its newly filed petition for writ of certiorari, Ultramercial asks the U.S. Supreme Court:

      Whether computer-implemented or software-based claims, reciting novel or non-routine steps with no conventional counterparts, still cover only patent-ineligible “abstract ideas” as this Court has interpreted 35 U.S.C. § 101?

      Ultramercial v. Hulu (Supreme Court 2015) (Ultramercial Petition).

      U.S. Patent No. 7,346,545 is directed to a method of distributing copyrighted media content over the internet with a consumer receiving a copyrighted product in exchange for watching an advertisement that pays for the content.  Claim 1 is an eleven-step process that spells out the method for accomplishing the aforementioned goals.

      The district court originally assigned to the case found the patent invalid as unduly claiming the abstract idea of “advertising as currency.”  The subsequent appellate history is interesting. Initially, the Federal Circuit reversed – finding that the claimed computer programming elements were sufficient to limit the claims in concrete wasy and to avoid the problem of preemption of an entire field or idea. However, after being twice vacated (Following Bilski and Alice) the Federal Circuit changed its opinion – now finding the claims to be lacking patent eligibility.

      Smartflash v. Apple: Is the Invention an Abstract Idea?

      Patent, ,


      Apple-logo[1]by Dennis Crouch

      In the upcoming $500 million Apple v. Smartflash appeal, a central question will be whether the Smartflash patents properly claim eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101 as interpreted by Alice v. CLS Bank (2014).  (These issues will first arise in post-verdict motions before the district court).  If these claims are patent eligible, then Alice will ultimately have only a minor shift in the law.

      Although there may be factual underpinnings, patent eligibility is generally thought to be a question of law that is decided by a judge rather than jury.  In this case, Apple motioned for summary judgment of ineligibility under the Alice standard.  That motion was first considered and rejected by Magistrate Judge Nicole Mitchell and then confirmed without opinion by Judge Rodney Gilstrap.

      Lets look at the Smartflash claims. Claim 32 of U.S. Patent No. 8,118,221 is fairly indicative and claims a data access terminal that is designed to take-in data from a supplier and provides the data to a carrier.  The arguably novel features of the apparatus is found in the claimed software code that (1) receives payment data and payment validation; and (2) once payment is made then retrieving data and a “condition for accessing the data” from the supplier and send it to the carrier. The claim further points out that the condition is “dependent upon the amount of payment.” [Text of the claim is at the bottom].  That condition might, for instance, be that the data file (i.e.,  movie) is permanently accessible based upon a larger payment, but only available for a seven days based upon a smaller payment. The eligibility question will be whether this claim is effectively directed to an unpatentable abstract idea.

      In Alice Corp., the Supreme Court explained a two step process for its abstract idea analysis. In step one, the court asks whether the claim is directed to or encompasses an abstract idea. For some, it appears that this approach involves considering the gist of the invention as claimed.  Thus, in Alice Corp., the Supreme Court saw that the claimed invention was directed toward the general idea of “mitigating settlement risk” even though the particular claim at issue involved more particularized elements. In step two, the court asks whether any of the specifically claimed elements or combination of elements in the claim are sufficient to ensure that the claim amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.  Here, the question could be restated as to whether the claim in question includes an innovative or otherwise sufficient practical application of the aforementioned abstract idea.

      In thinking through the claims at issue in Smartflash, the district court (through the magistrate judge) followed the two-step approach of Alice to ultimately find the claims patent eligible.

      In step one, the district court sided with Apple – finding that the patent claims do recite abstract ideas. In particular, the court found that “the asserted claims recite methods and systems for controlling access to content data … and receiving and validating payment data” with the state purpose of “reduc[ing] the risk of unauthorized access to content data.” Generalizing further upon these notions, the court found that the general purpose of the claim to be “conditioning and controlling access to data based on payment” and concluded that to be an “abstract and a fundamental building block of the economy in the digital age.”  In considering this approach, the district court interpreted Alice step one as focused on the “general purpose” of the invention and that Alice only “considers specific limitations at step two.”

      In step two, the district court ruled against Apple — finding that the specific limitations found in the claims were sufficient to transform the abstract purpose to a patent eligible invention. “The asserted claims contain meaningful limitations that transform the abstract idea of the general purpose of the claims into a patent-eligible invention.” Here, the court pointed to the recited limitations such as “status data”, “use rules”, and “content memory.” Although those none of those individual limitations may be substantial enough, the court found them indicative of the reality that the “claimed solution is necessarily rooted in computer technology in order to overcome a problem specifically arising in the realm of computer networks.”  Finally, to drive-home this point, the court attempted to draw an analogy to pre-internet days and found that the solutions offered here is fundamentally different from prior solutions of the general abstract problem in pre-internet days.

      In its step-two analysis, the district court attempted to hone its decision closely to Judge Chen’s decision in DDR Holdings.

      [Read the Magistrate Judge opinion adopted by the District Court: 6-13-cv-00447-JRG-KNM-423-PRIMARY DOCUMENT]

      In the same way that the Supreme Court’s Alice Corp analysis is deeply unsatisfying, the district court’s analysis here is also fails to be compelling.  In each case, application of the legal rule to the particular facts is done in merely a conclusory way without support of either facts or substantial analysis.

      = = = = = =

       

      Claim 32.
      A data access terminal for retrieving data from a data supplier and providing the retrieved data to a data carrier, the terminal comprising:
      a first interface for communicating with the data supplier;
      a data carrier interface for interfacing with the data carrier;
      a program store storing code; and

      a processor coupled to the first interface, the data carrier interface, and the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising:

      code to read payment data from the data carrier and to forward the payment data to a payment validation system;
      code to receive payment validation data from the payment validation system;
      code responsive to the payment validation data to retrieve data from the data supplier and to write the retrieved data into the data carrier;
      code responsive to the payment validation data to receive at least one access rule from the data supplier and to write the at least one access rule into the data carrier, the at least one access rule specifying at least one condition for accessing the retrieved data written into the data carrier, the at least one condition being dependent upon the amount of payment associated with the payment data forwarded to the payment validation system; and
      code to retrieve from the data supplier and output to a user-stored data identifier data and associated value data and use rule data for a data item available from the data supplier.

       

       

       

       

       

      Federal Circuit Sends Patent Case to Eighth Circuit

      Patent,

      By Dennis Crouch

      US Water Services, Inc. v. ChemTreat (Fed. Cir. 2014)

      The Federal Circuit has determined that it lacks subject-matter appellate jurisdiction over the patent infringement appeal and has thus transferred the case to its sister-court, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

      The unusual outcome stems from the parties pleading posture that began pre-AIA. Under the law when the case was filed, the Federal Circuit has subject-matter appellate jurisdiction over cases that “arise under” federal patent law. Arising-under jurisdiction is a term of art that follows the “well-pled complaint rule” which requires the patent law question appear on the face of the plaintiff’s original complaint as outlined in the Supreme Court’s 2002 decision on point. Holmes Grp., Inc. v. Vornado Air Circulation Sys., Inc., 534 U.S. 826 (2002).

      Here, the original complaint was filed by USWS against ChemTreat for trade secret misappropriation under Minnesota law. In a counter claim, ChemTreat alleged invalidity and non-infringement of one of USWS’s issued patents. The parties then settled the trade secret claim and the district court subsequently granted ChemTreat’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. USWS now appeals that noninfringement determination. Since the patent issue was first raised in the responsive pleading (rather than in the complaint), the case cannot be said to arise under the federal patent laws. The result then is that the Federal Circuit has no subject matter appellate jurisdiction over the appeal.

      As the patentee with a technical argument on appeal, the USWS was looking for Federal Circuit jurisdiction. It raised two arguments on the appeal (1) that it consented to the counterclaim filing; and (2) that the counterclaim joined additional parties (the patent owners since USWS was merely the exclusive licensee) and thus should be seen as the equivalent to a complaint under the well-pled-complaint rule. In its decision here, the Federal Circuit rejected both of those arguments, finding instead that the rule is hard and inflexible. See also Wawrzynski v. H.J. Heinz Co., 728 F.3d 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2013).

      tl;dr: patent issue was first raised in a counterclaim so the case did not arise under the US patent laws.

      If the same lawsuit had been more recently filed, it is possible but still unlikely that the Federal Circuit would have subject matter appellate jurisdiction based upon the AIA amendments made in 2011. In particular, the Federal Circuit jurisdiction now additionally extends to cases where the patent law issue is raised only in a “compulsory counterclaim.” Although not expressly decided it does not appear that the patent issue here should be seen as compulsory under the rules of civil procedure but instead merely supplemental. As such, even the broader appellate subject matter jurisdiction rules of the AIA would not permit the Federal Circuit to hear the case.

      = = = = =

      The decision here was based upon appellate subject matter jurisdiction and did not reach the merits of the underlying appeal. Those underlying merits focused on whether the district court held declaratory judgment jurisdiction since (according to USWS), USWS never threatened patent infringement and the challenged patent was so different from ChemTreat’s activities that it would be silly to fear such an action.

      The enfant terrible?

      Patent

      The Green Bag at first appears as an oxymoron – known as an “entertaining journal of law.”  The published articles often rely heavily on satire to make their points. Hastings Professor Robin Feldman has a new article coming out in the Green Bag titled “Coming of Age for the Federal Circuit.” Her article though is quite serious and which begins as follows:

      This has been a watershed year for the Federal Circuit. The Chief Judge, who had gained a reputation for commenting publicly about pending legislation and cases, resigned after a scandal involving the appearance of favoritism towards a lawyer who appears before the court. The Circuit fared no better in the more traditional measure of approval from the court above. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in six patent cases arising out of the Federal Circuit this term—the largest number the Justices have accepted since the Circuit’s creation in 1982. Moreover, in case after case this year, the Justices soundly and unanimously rejected the Federal Circuit’s logic. . ..

      Characterizing these struggles as a debate about rules and standards misses the heart of the conversation that is occurring. Rather, a strong message echoes through the six Supreme Court decisions. It is a message about restraint, about carefully constructed logic, and about coming into the fold of judicial decision-making. This is not to suggest that the Supreme Court itself is always successful in following these aspirational goals. Nevertheless, the message is clear. This is a coming of age for the Federal Circuit–or at least the Supreme Court seems determined to coax, cajole and, when necessary, club the Federal Circuit into coming of age.

      This article examines the messages evident in recent Supreme Court decisions and evaluates whether the Court appears to be gaining ground. Although some indications are positive, others suggest that the Federal Circuit may not be entirely ready to relinquish its role as the judiciary’s enfant terrible.

      Read it here.

      ABA Journal Includes Patently-O in its Blawg 100

      Bits and Bytes, Patent, Weblogs

      For the fourth year in a row, the ABA Journal has selected Patently-O as one of the top 100 legal blogs (Blawgs). The list offers a nice way to find out about other high quality blogs you may have missed. For the first time, the list includes a sub-category of IP-focused legal blogs. Others in the category include the TTABlog (John Welch), TechDirt (Mike Masnick), IPWatchdog (Gene Quinn), IPKat (Jeremy Phillips and team), and Copyrights & Campaigns (Ben Sheffner). Of course, there is a quite long list of very good IP-focused legal blogs that should have made the list.

      The annual listing includes a popularity contest and I would appreciate your vote. (A quick registration is required to vote.)

      Notes: