The Federal Circuit's strong position on patents has proved difficult for computer-related inventions. The rise of the Federal Circuit coincided with a rise of importance and universality of computers, an industry that has had a tenuous relationship with the patent system. Computers, particularly computer software, have not fit well in the existing protections for intellectual property. To some extent, both patents and copyrights have been used to protect software, but determining whether computer software was patentable, and if patentable, what was covered, has not been easy. Part of the problem is that computer programmers as a group have expressed an aversion to patents.
Programmers are excited about developments made by others and tend to copy efficient programming.
They also enjoy the notoriety of having others copy their work. Nevertheless, the Federal Circuit has been asserting its pro-patent position in the computer industry and continues to expand the scope of patentable computerized inventions. Through the years, the Patent Office and the courts have used two legal doctrines to limit patents based upon computer technology, prohibitions on patenting mathematical algorithms and prohibitions on patents for methods of doing business. In State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group Inc., a recent landmark decision, the Federal Circuit eliminated the exclusion for methods of doing business and significantly limited the scope of the mathematical algorithm exclusion. Like Priceline's patent, Signature Financial Group's patent did little more than implement an accounting process using a computer.