Patent claims directed to an “emergency call analysis system” were held patent ineligible, and a motion to dismiss for failure to claim patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101 granted, in Boar’s Head Corp. v. Directapps, Inc., No. 2:14-cv-01927-KJM-KJN (E.D. California, July 27, 2015). The court found that under the Mayo/Alice test the patent […]
Archive | Litigation
Patent Claims to Use of Inertial Sensors Fail the Alice Test
The Court of Federal Claims recently held that patent claims for determining the orientation of a pilot in a fighter jet, although reciting hardware elements, were invalid as directed to a patent-ineligible abstract idea under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Thales Visionix, Inc. v. The United States, No. 14-513C (Ct. Cl. July 20, 2015). Accordingly, the […]
Denial of Dispositive Motions Undermined Argument for Exceptional Case
A recent case in which a court refused to find a case exceptional under 35 U.S.C. § 285, and denied a defendant’s motion for fees, demonstrates how Octane Fitness has not greatly shifted the ground in many patent cases. In Ushijima v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., No. A-12-CV-318-LY (W.D. Tex. Jul. 30, 2015), the denial […]
Reasonable Non-Infringement Positions Relying on Court’s Claim Construction Negates Willful Patent Infringement Argument
Because Fairchild Semiconductor (a counterclaim defendant) had advanced credible non-infringement positions, the court denied a summary judgment motion seeking a finding of willful infringement in Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. v. Power Integrations, Inc., No. 12-540-LPS (D. Del. April 23, 2015). The court here followed the two part test established in In re Seagate Technology, LLC, to […]
Divided Infringement Results in Judgment on Pleadings on Induced Infringement
By Peter Keros on May 17, 2015 in Civil Procedure, Divided and Joint Infringement, Indirect Patent Infringement, Notice Pleading Patent Infringement
Finding that a complaint failed to sufficiently allege that the defendant exercised direction or control over all asserted steps of a method patent claim, a court has dismissed a complaint alleging induced infringement under FRCP 12(c). Robert Mankes v. Vivid Seats, Limited, No. 5:13-CV-717-FL, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24327 (E.D.N.C. Feb 26, 2015). Based on […]
Patent Claims Drawn to Managing Shipping Containers Held Patent-Ineligible
Illustrating that business method patent claims face an uphill battle for patent-eligibility after Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l., a court has invalidated, under 35 U.S.C. § 101, claims directed to a “container monitoring system for accumulating and storing information on shipping containers including container location and container load status.” Wireless Media Innovations […]
Patent Claims in Intellectual Ventures Case Held Patent-Eligible Where No Application Without a Computer; Other Claims Held Patent-Ineligible
Considering claims of various patents-in-suit, a court drew a patent-eligibility line at the point where claims could be practiced without a computer, invalidating claims of two patents, but upholding claims of a third, under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp., no 1:10-cv-01067, Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Trend Micro Inc., […]
Patent-Eligibility Can Be Deferred Until Claim Construction
By Charles Bieneman on May 7, 2015 in Civil Procedure, Litigation, Patentable Subject Matter, Software Patents
Although many courts are often willing to rule on patent-eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 at the pleadings stage, sometimes courts are more comfortable deferring the issue until claim construction. An interesting recent example is Mobile-Plan-It LLC v. Facebook Inc., no. 3:14-cv-01709 (N.D. Cal. April 20, 2015), where patent claims directed to a “method for […]
DDR Holdings Saves Patent-Eligibility of SMS Messaging Claims
Surviving a patent-eligibility challenge under 35 U.S.C. § 101 were patent claims drawn to a “method of using a computer system to facilitate two-way communication between a mobile device and an Internet server.” Messaging Gateway Solutions LLC v. Amdocs Inc., No. 1:14-cv-00732 (D. Del. April 15, 2015). Accordingly, the court denied defendants’ motions for judgment […]
Patent-Eligibility of Auction Claims Is Never a Good Bet After Alice
Patent claims directed to a “method of hosting a computer-based auction over the internet” were held invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 in Advanced Auctions LLC v. eBay, Inc., No. 13CV1612 BEN (JLB) (S.D. Cal., March 26, 2015). The court found the patent claims directed to “the abstract idea of an auction and the generic […]