by Dennis Crouch
In Rideshare Displays, Inc. v. Lyft, Inc., No. 25-1132 (petition filed Mar. 23, 2026), the petitioner asks for clarification on when a court may disregard specific functional claim limitations in conducting the Alice patent eligibility analysis. The petition also raises a procedural question about the Federal Circuit's authority to raise and decide new factual arguments sua sponte on appeal. Something unusual about the case - USPTO Dir. Vidal intervened at the Federal Circuit to defend the PTAB's eligibility holding, and the court reversed anyway. I expect that Dir. Squires will be even more supportive. At the Supreme Court, the USPTO brief will be filed by the DOJ's SG, bringing a wider set of interests - and likely a less pro-patentee tone - than the USPTO’s Federal Circuit presentation.