NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals 

for the Federal Circuit ______________________

MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECHNOLOGIES, 

LLC,

Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

MERIDIANLINK, INC.,

Defendant-Cross-Appellant

______________________

2020-1504, 2020-1645

______________________

Appeals from the United States District Court for the 

Central District of California in No. 19-CV-704, Judge David O. Carter.

______________________

Decided: January 12, 2021

______________________

STEPHEN M. LOBBIN, SML Avvocati PC, La Jolla, CA, 

for plaintiff-appellant. 

 RUDOLPH A. TELSCHER, JR., Husch Blackwell LLP, St. 

Louis, MO, for defendant-cross-appellant. Also represented by KARA RENEE FUSSNER, DAISY MANNING; STEPHEN 

REID HOWE, Milwaukee, WI. 

 ______________________

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 1 Filed: 01/12/2021
2 MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC.

Before PROST, Chief Judge, CLEVENGER and DYK, Circuit 

Judges.

Clevenger, Circuit Judge.

Mortgage Application Technologies, LLC (“MAT”) appeals the final decision of the U.S. District Court for the 

Central District of California finding that the asserted 

claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,548,902 (“’902 patent”) are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Mortg. Application Techs., 

LLC v. Meridianlink, Inc., No. 19-CV-704, 2020 WL 

1000581 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 6, 2020). MeridianLink, Inc. (“MeridianLink”) cross-appeals from a separate decision that

denied MeridianLink’s motion for attorney’s fees. Mortg. 

Application Techs., LLC v. Meridianlink, Inc., No. 19-CV704, 2020 WL 4187766 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 12, 2020). For the 

reasons set forth below, we affirm the district court’s decision finding the ’902 patent invalid and affirm the denial of 

MeridianLink’s motion for attorney’s fees. 

I

MAT is the current assignee of the ’902 patent, entitled 

“Systems for Online Lending Services via an Application 

Service Provider Network” which was issued on October 1, 

2013. The ’902 patent generally relates to an online loan 

origination service for creating and populating loan applications. It is undisputed that claims 1-7 are representative 

of claims 8-20.1 Claims 1-7 are as follows:

1 MAT argues MeridianLink did not challenge 

claims 8-20 and these claims should be independently evaluated. This is plainly incorrect as MeridianLink did in fact 

challenge these claims. Furthermore, MAT does not explain why claims 8-20 are not properly represented by 

claims 1-7 as the district court determined. See Berkheimer 

v. HP Inc., 881 F.3d 1360, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2018).

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 2 Filed: 01/12/2021
MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC. 3

1. A system for providing an online loan origination 

service, comprising:

an application server having an Internet 

interface and configured to receive a loan 

application having loan application data, 

wherein the loan application data is in an 

Extensible Markup Language (XML) format, configured to automatically extract 

the loan application data, and hosting an 

automatic decision engine, wherein the automatic decision engine is configured to automatically process the loan application 

data and compare the loan application data 

to lender underwriting criteria to determine one or more compatible lenders;

a database server coupled to the application server, comprising a database preloaded with a PDF generated application 

form, and configured to receive the extracted loan application data, further configured to automatically populate a binary 

Portable Document Format (PDF) form file 

with the extracted loan application data, 

and further configured to automatically 

store the binary PDF form file loan application populated with the extracted XML 

loan application data for cross-platform access and viewing; and

a queue manager server coupled to the application server and the database server, 

wherein the queue manager server is configured to receive the loan application from 

the application server and wherein the database server is further configured to poll 

the queue manager server at specified periodic intervals and to receive the transfer 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 3 Filed: 01/12/2021
4 MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC.

of the loan application data from the queue 

manager server in response to a poll.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the binary PDF 

form file populated with the extracted loan application data and the extracted XML loan application 

data are stored in a Structured Query Language 

(SQL) database residing on the database server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the application 

server is further configured to provide access to the 

binary PDF form file populated with the extracted 

loan application data stored in the database server 

to an authorized user via the Internet based on a 

receipt of credential information relating to the authorized user.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a messaging server coupled to the application server and 

the database server, wherein the messaging server 

is configured to generate an electronic message including information relating to a status of the loan 

application.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the population, 

by the database server, of the binary PDF form file 

with the extracted loan application data includes 

Base 64 encoding.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the population, 

by the database server, of the binary PDF form file 

with the extracted loan application data includes 

hexadecimal encoding.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the population, 

by the database server, of the binary PDF form file 

with the extracted loan application data includes 

using unparsed entities.

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 4 Filed: 01/12/2021
MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC. 5

II

On May 17, 2017, Larry Porter, the named inventor on 

the ’902 patent and the then-assignee, sent a cease and desist letter to MeridianLink along with a draft complaint alleging infringement of the ’902 patent. Mr. Porter and 

MeridianLink communicated with each other thereafter, 

and MeridianLink indicated its belief that the ’902 patent 

was directed to patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 

U.S.C. § 101 in light of governing precedents. MeridianLink also informed Mr. Porter that he may risk paying MeridianLink’s attorney fees if he were to litigate the case.

On January 30, 2019, Mr. Porter assigned the ’902 patent to MAT, his LLC that was formed on December 5, 

2018, and that same day MAT filed the complaint against 

MeridianLink in the Southern District of California, which 

was subsequently transferred to the Central District of 

California. At this point in time, Mr. Porter had also hired 

new counsel to represent him. After filing the suit, and 

prior to MeridianLink providing its answer, Mr. Porter attempted to settle the case for $150,000, which MeridianLink rejected. 

MeridianLink filed its answer in May 2019, after which 

the case remained pending for several months without any 

discovery requests from MAT. During this time, no claim 

construction was proposed or exchanged by MAT, and MAT 

took the position that any claim construction should be presented in dispositive motions near the end of the case. 

On October 23, 2019, MeridianLink moved for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c) asserting that the 

’902 patent was directed to an abstract idea under § 101 

and Alice. The district court found that no hearing was necessary and granted the motion on January 6, 2020. The district court reasoned that the ’902 patent was invalid under 

the Alice test because it was directed to an abstract idea of 

information exchange, and the claims, both individually 

and in combination, did not add anything “significantly 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 5 Filed: 01/12/2021
6 MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC.

more” to the abstract concept. Mortg. Application, 2020 WL 

1000581, at *6 (internal citation omitted). Rather, as the 

district court articulated, the claims were not directed to

how information exchange will occur but “simply recites a 

method of information exchange,” which is the abstract 

idea in and of itself. Id. at *6.

After the case was dismissed, MeridianLink filed a motion for attorney’s fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285, arguing that 

this was an exceptional case which warranted the awarding of fees. The district court disagreed, explaining that

this case was not exceptional. First, the district court found 

that MAT’s position was not substantially weak simply because “similar patents had been invalidated in the past.” 

Mortg. Application, 2020 WL 4187766, at *2. Second, the

district court determined that MAT’s litigation conduct 

was not unreasonable because MAT’s settlement offer did 

not appear to seek a nuisance settlement, MAT had only 

sued two other parties, and there was insufficient evidence 

to make an adverse inference for why MAT’s former counsel withdrew or why Mr. Porter formed MAT to begin with, 

aside from availing himself of the benefits of an LLC. Id. at 

*4.

MAT timely filed its appeal from the district court’s decision invalidating the ’902 patent under § 101, and MeridianLink timely filed its cross-appeal of the district court’s 

decision denying its motion for attorney’s fees. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).

III

We start by addressing MAT’s appeal on the § 101 issue, and then will turn to MeridianLink’s cross-appeal on 

the motion for attorney’s fees. 

A

We review the district court’s Rule 12(c) dismissal under the law of the regional circuit, here the Ninth Circuit. 

Nat. Alts. Int’l, Inc. v. Creative Compounds, LLC, 918 F.3d 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 6 Filed: 01/12/2021
MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC. 7

1338, 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (noting that the Rule 12(c) analysis is “functionally identical” to the standard for deciding 

a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss) (citing Ninth Circuit 

law). The Ninth Circuit reviews a court’s grant of judgment 

on the pleadings de novo. Daewoo Elecs. Am. Inc. v. Opta 

Corp., 875 F.3d 1241, 1246 (9th Cir. 2017). Like the district 

court, we must accept all allegations in the complaint as 

true and construe them in the light most favorable to the 

plaintiff. MyMail, Ltd. v. ooVoo, LLC, 934 F.3d 1373, 1378 

(Fed. Cir. 2019)(citing Ninth Circuit law). 

Patent eligibility under § 101 is a question of law that 

may involve underlying questions of fact. Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc., 896 F.3d 1335, 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2018). 

The district court’s ultimate conclusion on patent eligibility 

is reviewed de novo. Id. “Patent eligibility may be determined on a Rule 12(c) motion, but only when there are no 

factual allegations that, if taken as true, prevent resolving 

the eligibility question as a matter of law.” MyMail, Ltd., 

934 F.3d at 1379. 

When reviewing patent eligibility under § 101, we must 

undergo the two-step analysis articulated in Alice. Alice 

Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208, 216-18 (2014). First, 

we consider whether the claims are directed to a patentineligible concept such as an abstract idea, law of nature, 

or natural phenomenon. Elec. Power Grp., LLC v. Alstom 

S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (citing Alice, 573 

U.S. at 216-18). If the claims are directed to a patent-ineligible concept, we move to the second step to “determine 

whether the claim elements, considered both individually 

and as an ordered combination, transform the nature of the 

claim into a patent-eligible application, of that concept.” 

MyMail, Ltd., 934 F.3d at 1379 (internal quotation marks

omitted). “[I]f the parties raise a claim construction dispute

at the Rule 12(c) stage, the district court must either adopt 

the non-moving party’s constructions or resolve the dispute 

to whatever extent is needed to conduct the § 101 analysis.” 

Id.

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 7 Filed: 01/12/2021
8 MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC.

B

Prior to conducting the § 101 analysis, we must first 

address the issue raised by MAT on claim construction. 

MAT argues that the district court erred when it forwent 

claim construction prior to its § 101 analysis. MAT cites to 

a concurrence in our case Natural Alternatives International, Inc. v. Creative Compounds, LLC for the proposition 

that any § 101 determination should be deferred until after 

claim construction. 918 F.3d at 1351. MAT’s arguments fail 

for three reasons. First, MAT did not raise any claim construction dispute and did not provide any proposed construction, but rather stated that the terms simply “should 

be construed.” Mortg. Application, 2020 WL 1000581, at *3 

(internal citation omitted). In fact, MAT concedes that the 

12 claim terms it lists “need not be construed” and should 

simply be afforded their plain and ordinary meaning. Appellant’s Br. 20 n. 4. Second, MAT did not explain how any 

proposed construction would change the § 101 analysis. See 

Cleveland Clinic Found. v. True Health Diagnostics LLC, 

859 F.3d 1352, 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (affirming district 

court’s § 101 determination in a motion to dismiss prior to 

claim construction because plaintiff proposed no construction that would have changed the § 101 analysis). Third, 

this case is factually distinct from Natural Alternatives International. In that case, our court had adopted concrete 

constructions proposed by the plaintiff, which the concurrence-in-part did not think were correct.2 Nat. Alts. Int’l, 

918 F.3d at 1351-52. Since no constructions were proposed 

in this case and there was no dispute regarding the same, 

the district court did not err when it did not conduct any 

claim construction prior to the § 101 analysis. 

2 As MAT also concedes, the discussion in the concurrence regarding deferral of § 101 analysis is not the rule 

of this court. 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 8 Filed: 01/12/2021
MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC. 9

C

Under the first step of the Alice framework, the district 

court concluded that claims 1-7 of the ’902 patent were 

drawn “to the abstract idea of information exchange in an 

online loan application process which can easily be performed by a human.” Mortg. Application, 2020 WL 

1000581, at *3. We agree with the district court’s characterization of the claims. 

We consider “what the patent asserts to be the ‘focus of 

the claimed advance over the prior art.’” Solutran, Inc. v. 

Elavon, Inc., 931 F.3d 1161, 1168 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (quoting 

Affinity Labs of Tex., LLC v. DIRECTV, LLC, 838 F.3d 

1253, 1257 (Fed. Cir. 2016)). The claims, prosecution history, and specification of the ’902 patent make clear that 

the focus of the claims, with respect to the prior art, is the 

exchange and storage of information. Claim 1, for example, 

describes a process in which data is received in one format, 

automatically extracted, compared to a set criteria, populated into a second document, and then stored for and retrieved by a user. The specification further supports this 

conclusion by stating that an objective of the claimed technology is to “automatically take loan application data,” 

“populate” a database, inclusive of a PDF with that data, 

and then “automatically migrate[] the data” to a source “all 

by automatic message queuing which keeps all interested 

parties advised.” J.A. 36, 3:52-61. The entire focus of the 

claims are to “facilitate[] the flow of information throughout the mortgage lending process.” J.A. 36, 3:30-31. During 

prosecution, the applicant even emphasized that the claims 

were distinct from the prior art because the prior art disclosed a manual method of “processing loan applications 

and searching for compatible lenders” whereas the ’902 patent’s claims were directed to an automated process. J.A. 

415. Mr. Porter also indicated that the claimed invention 

was meant to be a “fully automated system” of the “online 

lending process.” J.A. 401, ¶11.

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 9 Filed: 01/12/2021
10 MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC.

We have previously held that a process that can be and 

has been performed by humans without the use of a computer, as the prosecution history shows here, is an abstract 

idea. See Mortg. Grader, Inc. v. First Choice Loan Servs. 

Inc., 811 F.3d 1314, 1324 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (finding that the 

asserted claims drawn to a computerized loan application 

process could all be performed by a human and thus were 

abstract). We have further held that information storage 

and exchange is an abstract idea even when it uses computers as a tool or is limited to a particular technological 

environment. See Content Extraction & Transmission LLC 

v. Wells Fargo Bank, Nat’l Ass’n, 776 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 

2014); see also Audatex N. Am., Inc. v. Mitchell Int’l, Inc., 

703 F. App’x 986, 989 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (finding claims abstract that “merely use[] a computer and generic components as tools to collect” data and generate reports). The

mere automation of the exchange and storage of information does not render the claims any less abstract. See 

Data Engine Techs. LLC v. Google LLC, 906 F.3d 999, 1013 

(Fed. Cir. 2018). Thus, we find that the claims here are directed to an abstract idea. 

D

We also agree with the district court that under step 

two of the Alice analysis, the claims are not patent-eligible. 

Under this step, we must “determine whether the claims 

do significantly more than simply describe [the] abstract 

method” and thus transform the abstract idea into patentable subject matter. Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC, 772 

F.3d 709, 715 (Fed. Cir. 2014). In doing so, we look to see if 

there are “additional features” that would constitute an inventive concept and are more than “well-understood, routine, conventional activity” thereby transforming the 

claims into something patent eligible. Intell. Ventures I 

LLC v. Erie Indem. Co., 850 F.3d 1315, 1328 (Fed. Cir. 

2017). 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 10 Filed: 01/12/2021
MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC. 11

The claims at issue do not rise to the level of improving 

technological infrastructure or providing solutions to challenges particular to loan application processing. See Intell.

Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363, 

1370 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (“[M]erely adding computer functionality to increase the speed or efficiency of the process does 

not confer patent eligibility on an otherwise abstract 

idea.”). The claims do not add anything beyond conventional technology, and thus do not transform the claims to 

something more than the abstract idea of information exchange and storage. 

MAT argues that the technological solution of the patent is a universal protocol or software that deals with multiple non-compatible third-party software and the issue of

transferring information from one format into another format. However, these features that MAT contends are the 

innovative technological solutions never appear in the 

claims. At best, they simply appear in the form of the abstract idea (e.g. exchanging information from XML to PDF 

format) without any indication of how the innovative feature is achieved or applied. Indeed, claims that do not define the particular features used to achieve the alleged 

advantage cannot be said to pass step two of the Alice analysis. See Intell. Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Fin. Corp., 

850 F.3d 1332, 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2017).

IV

We now turn to MeridianLink’s cross-appeal on the denial of attorney’s fees. Under 35 U.S.C. § 285 “[t]he court 

in exceptional cases may award reasonable attorney fees to 

the prevailing party.” “[A]n ‘exceptional’ case is one that 

stands out from others with respect to the substantive 

strength of a party’s litigating position (considering both 

the governing law and the facts of the case) or the unreasonable manner in which the case was litigated.” Octane 

Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc., 572 U.S. 545, 

134 S. Ct. 1749, 1756, 188 L. Ed. 2d 816 (2014). “District 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 11 Filed: 01/12/2021
12 MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC.

courts may determine whether a case is ‘exceptional’ in a 

case-by-case exercise of their discretion, considering the totality of the circumstances.” Id. Section 285 “imposes no 

specific evidentiary burden” and is rather “a simple discretionary inquiry[.]” We review the district court’s exceptional case determination for abuse of discretion. See

Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Mgmt. Sys., Inc., 572 U.S.

559, 564, 134 S. Ct. 1744, 1749, 188 L. Ed. 2d 829 (2014).

Because the district court did not abuse its discretion, we 

affirm. 

A

The district court’s decision clearly and adequately explained the basis for denying the motion for attorney’s fees. 

The district court considered the totality of the circumstances when it explained that based on the evidence before it, including the substantive strength of MAT’s 

litigation position as well as MAT’s litigation conduct, that 

this was not an exceptional case. 

MeridianLink argues that MAT’s actions evidence abusive litigation tactics in an attempt to extract a nuisance 

value settlement. MeridianLink cited MAT’s offer of a low 

settlement value, litigation against two other entities, failure to advance the case on its merits, eleventh-hour formation of MAT as an LLC, and assignment of the ’902 

patent to MAT on the same day the suit was filed, as evidence of improper litigation conduct. We cannot agree that 

the district court abused its discretion when it decided not 

to make adverse inferences from the cited evidence.

The district court found that the small amount of the 

proposed settlement and its proximity to the cost of litigation and MAT’s lawsuit against only two other companies 

was insufficient to show abusive litigation conduct or an 

attempt to extract a quick settlement. Mortg. Application, 

2020 WL 4187766, at *4; see SFA Sys., LLC v. Newegg Inc., 

793 F.3d 1344, 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (“The mere existence 

of these other suits does not mandate negative inferences 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 12 Filed: 01/12/2021
MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC. 13

about the merits or purpose of this suit.”); cf. Eon-Net LP,

653 F.3d at 1327 (where the plaintiff filed over one hundred

lawsuits against diverse defendants).

The district court also did not make any adverse inferences as to why the original non-patent attorneys representing Mr. Porter withdrew or why Mr. Porter formed 

MAT other than to avail himself of the benefits of an LLC. 

Mortg. Application, 2020 WL 4187766, at *4. MeridianLink

has not pointed to indisputable evidence that requires us 

to draw a different inference from MAT’s conduct. As such, 

we are not at liberty to disturb the findings of the district 

court nor can we conclude that it abused its discretion.

B

MeridianLink further argues that the district court underestimated the weakness of MAT’s litigation position in 

light of the relevant caselaw, and that this case is exceptional because it “was not a close call under Alice.” CrossAppellant Br. 64. The district court, however, reviewed the 

relevant case law and found that MAT’s litigation position

was not substantively weak. Although the ’902 patent is 

ineligible under § 101, it was unlike a number of other 

cases that MeridianLink cites in which the patents at issue 

were drawn to a fundamental economic processes. Specifically, as the district court stated, the claims in this case are 

drawn to an abstract process that is applied to a fundamental economic process. Mortg. Application, 2020 WL 

4187766, at *3. MeridianLink argues that although the district court distinguished this case from a number of precedential cases, it did not distinguish this case from a few 

other cases MeridianLink cites. We are not persuaded that

the handful of cases finding patent ineligibility under §

101, including Audatex, is sufficient to show that the district court abused its discretion in ultimately denying MeridianLink’s motion for attorney’s fees. As discussed above,

the district court may consider the totality of the circumstances when exercising its discretion. Because the district 

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 13 Filed: 01/12/2021
14 MORTGAGE APPLICATION TECH. v. MERIDIANLINK, INC.

court explained it did not find MAT’s litigation conduct to 

be unreasonable and did not find MAT’s litigation position 

to be substantially weak when considering the totality of 

the circumstances, we affirm its judgment.

V

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of 

the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California 

finding the claims of MAT’s ’902 patent ineligible and denying MeridianLink’s motion for attorney’s fees.

AFFIRMED

Case: 20-1504 Document: 42 Page: 14 Filed: 01/12/2021