The History of Software Patents

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PACKET INTELLIGENCE LLC V NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC (FORMERLY TEKTRONIX), FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2020 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak MalhotraJanuary 21, 2021

NetScout Systems appealed from a judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas which held that NetScout willfully infringed various claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,665,725; 6,839,751; and 6,954,789 and held that the claims were valid under 35 U.S.C. §101.

The patents disclose a method for monitoring packets ex-changed over a computer network. A stream of packets between two computers is called a connection flow. Monitoring connection flows cannot account for disjointed sequences of the same flow in a network.  The specifications explain that it is more useful to identify and classify “conversational flows,” defined as “the sequence of packets that are ex-changed in any direction as a result of an activity.” Conversational flows provide application-specific…

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ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES V SHOPPERSCHOICE.COM, FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2020 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak MalhotraJanuary 20, 2021

Electronic Communication Technologies, LLC sued ShoppersChoice.com, LLC (“ShoppersChoice”), alleging that ShoppersChoice infringed claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 9,373,261. The district court granted ShoppersChoice’s motion for judgment on the pleadings that claim 11 was invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

The ’261 patent is titled “Secure Notification Messaging with User Option to Communicate with Delivery or Pickup Representative.” ’Claim 11 re-cites:

An automated notification system, comprising:

  • one or more transceivers designed to communicate data; one or more memories;one or more processors; and
  • computer program code stored in the one or more memories and executed by the one or more processors, the computer program code comprising:
  • code that enables a first party associated with a personal communication device (PCD) to input or…
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CISCO SYSTEMS v UNILOC, FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2020 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak Malhotra

Uniloc (Uniloc 2017 LLC) appealed from a decision of the Northern District of California holding claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 6,980,522 ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

The patent relates to a radio communication system comprising a plurality of stations capable of forming an ad-hoc network. Each station within the network is capable of acting as either a master or a slave. The specification explains that one aspect of the invention is a method of operating the system which includes ranking each of the stations based on its suitability to act as a master “and arranging for the role of master to be taken by the station having the highest rank.”

Claim 6 covers that embodiment and recites:

  1. A…
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ERICSSON V TCL, FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2020 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak MalhotraJanuary 17, 2021

This case involves U.S. Patent No. 7,149,510 relating to securing mobile phones against improper access by apps.

Claim 1 recites:

1. A system for controlling access to a platform, the system comprising:

  • a platform having a software services component and an interface component, the interface component having at least one interface for providing access to the software services component for enabling application domain software to be installed, loaded, and run in the platform;
  • an access controller for controlling access to the software services component by a requesting application domain software via the at least one interface, the access controller comprising:
  • an interception module for receiving a request from the requesting application domain software to access the software services component;
  •  and a…
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UNILOC V LG ELECTRONICS, FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2020 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak Malhotra

Uniloc sued LG Electronics in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,993,049. LG moved to dismiss Uniloc’s Complaint, arguing the claims of the ’049 patent are ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §101. The lower court granted LG’s motion, determining that the asserted claims are directed to an abstract idea and do not recite an inventive concept.

The ’049 patent is directed to a communication system comprising a primary station (e.g., a base station) and at least one secondary station (e.g., a computer mouse or keyboard). In conventional systems, such as Bluetooth networks, two devices that share a common communication channel form ad hoc networks known as “piconets.” Joining…

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BOZEMAN FINANCIAL LLC V FEDERAL RESERVE BANK, FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2020 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak Malhotra

Bozeman Financial LLC appealed from a decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board holding all of the claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,754,640 and 8,768,840 ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §101.

Claim 1 of the ’840 patent is representative:

1. A computer implemented method for detecting fraud in financial transactions during a payment clearing process, said method comprising:

  • receiving through one of a payer bank and a third party, a first record of an electronic financial transaction from at least one of the following group: a payer, a point-of-sale terminal, an online account and a portable electronic device;
  • storing in a database accessible by each party to said payment clearing process of said electronic financial transaction, said first record of said electronic financial transaction,…
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CUSTOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, LLC V DISH NETWORK, FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2020 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak MalhotraJanuary 14, 2021

Customedia appealed a decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office holding claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,719,090 and 9,053,494 ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

The patents both relate to a cable TV set-top box.  A cable distributor may provide customers with a cable set-top box with built-in storage sections that may be leased or sold to advertisers.

Claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 8,719,090 is representative and recites:

1 A data delivery system for providing automatic delivery of multimedia data products from one or more multimedia data product providers, the system comprising:

  • a remote account transaction server for providing multimedia data products to an end user, at least one of the multimedia data products being specifically identified advertising data; and

    • …

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Adjusting to Alice–Report by USPTO (April 2020)
By Deepak MalhotraApril 29, 2020

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a report entitled “Adjusting to Alice” which refers to the Supreme Court decision in Alice Corp v CLS Bank International.

The report notes that the likelihood of receiving a first office action with a rejection for patent-ineligible subject matter increased by 31% in the 18 months following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International in 33 “Alice-affected” technology areas.

For these technologies, uncertainty in patent examination — measured as variability in patent subject matter eligibility determinations across examiners in the first action stage of examination — increased by 26% in the 18 months following the Alice decision.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued its January 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance in…

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American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. v. Neapco Holdings, FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2019 (LAWS OF NATURE)
By Deepak MalhotraApril 13, 2020

Even patent applications covering mechanical inventions can be invalidated using the same Alice Corp. v CLS case law used to invalidate software patents.

American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. sued Neapco alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,774,911.

The patent generally relates to a method for manufacturing driveline propeller shafts with liners that are designed to attenuate vibrations transmitted through a shaft assembly.

Bending mode vibration is a phenomenon wherein energy is transmitted longitudinally along the shaft and causes the shaft to bend at one or more locations. Torsion mode vibration is a phenomenon wherein energy is transmitted tangentially through the shaft and causes the shaft to twist. Shell mode vibration is a phenomenon wherein as standing wave is transmitted circumferentially about…

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SOLUTRAN, INC. v ELAVON, INC., FEDERAL CIRCUIT 2019 (SOFTWARE PATENTS)
By Deepak MalhotraMarch 23, 2020

This decision involves U.S. Patent No. 8,311,945, assigned to Solutran, Inc.

The patent explains that in the past, the payee would transport the check to his or her own bank to be read and processed, then the payee’s bank would transport the check to the payor’s bank,where it also would be read and processed. At this point, the payor’s bank would debit the payor’s account and transfer the money to the payee’s bank, which would credit the payee’s account.

The digital age ushered in a faster approach to processing checks, where the transaction information—e.g., amount of the transaction, routing and account number—on the check is turned into a digital file at the merchant’s point of sale (POS) terminal.

The digital check information…

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