top of page
Search
  • Hilary Sumner
    • Sep 29, 2019
    • 1 min read

Can Software Be Patented? The Patent Landscape Post Alice v. CLS

Updated: Aug 24

The recent US Supreme Court decision of Alice v. CLS Bank has specificed a Section 101 framework in which software patents must now be examined.  The court has enumerated two questions that must be asked in a software patent:


1. Does the claim merely cover an “abstract idea”?


2. Is there an (additional) “inventive concept” that turns this idea into a patentable application of the abstraction?


This decision does not eliminate the possibility of software patents but certainly leaves their patentability uncertain and open to challenge.


The recent case of Motio Inc. vs. Avnet Inc. has provided one example of how to circumvent this issue.  In that case the court found the that the "inventive concept" was an "automated agent" eligible for patent protection.


CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE


0 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Ten democratic Senators are hoping Biden will provide a temporary patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccinations. This would allow countries to manufacture the vaccines locally but will it affect the safe

The European Union (EU) recently rejected two patents applications where the invention was created by artificial intelligence (AI). These inventions were created by a “creativity machine” comprised

British researchers are claiming that an artificial intelligence (AI) system invented both a complex system for interlocking food containers as well as a new warning light.  The researchers have filed

bottom of page