by Dennis Crouch
The American Intellectual Property Law Association has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in United Services Automobile Association v. PNC Bank N.A., No. 25-853 (U.S. filed Mar. 2, 2026). The AIPLA brief does not focus on the particular merits of USAA's mobile check deposit patents. Instead, it frames the case as an opportunity for the Court to correct what the brief calls a historical regression: the Federal Circuit's application of the Alice/Mayo eligibility framework has revived the same subjective "inventive concept" inquiry that the Patent Act of 1952 was specifically designed to eliminate. The brief, filed by Barbara Fiacco and Valerie Orellana of Foley Hoag on behalf of AIPLA, traces this argument through more than a century of patent law, from the commingled eligibility/obviousness/definiteness standards of the 19th century through the 1952 reforms and back to the present "confusion."
USAA's petition presents two questions:
- Whether the Federal Circuit has wrongly extended the "abstract idea" prohibition to cover concrete technological processes; and
- Whether it has improperly held that computer-implemented inventions are patent-eligible only if they improve the computer's own functionality.
In 2025, the Federal Circuit reversed a $218 million jury verdict for USAA, holding that its claims directed to mobile check deposit using a handheld device were ineligible. The Supreme Court has signaled some interest by issuing a "Response Requested" and PNC's response is now due April 8, 2026, following an extension. See Dennis Crouch, USAA Petitions SCOTUS: Is Mobile Check Deposit Just an "Abstract Idea"?, Patently-O (Jan. 19, 2026).