Source: https://www.wnlaw.com/blog/ancora-tech-v-htc-yet-another-federal-circuit-decision-finding-a-computer-based-invention-patent-eligible-under-alice-mayo-step-one/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:51:03+00:00

Document:
On November 16, 2018 the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) decided Ancora Technologies, Inc. v. HTC America, Inc. (Ancora), a precedential decision finding claims around a “Method of Restricting Software Operation Within a License Limitation” to be patent-eligible under the Alice/Mayo framework for determining subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. §101. Under the Alice/Mayo framework, a court considers (1) whether the subject claim, as a whole, is “directed to” patent-ineligible subject matter (often an “abstract idea” for computer-based inventions) and (2) if so, whether the elements of the claim, considered individually or as an ordered combination, transform the nature of the claim into a patent-eligible application. Ancora adds to a growing number of CAFC decisions holding computer-based inventions to be patent-eligible under Step One of this framework.
A foundational decision was Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp. (Enfish) in May 2016, which held that the claims before the court were not directed to an abstract idea because the claimed self-referential data tables improved the way that computers operated and handled data; for example the claimed self-referential tables allowed the more efficient launching and adaptation of databases. In Enfish, the CAFC provided guidance that, in cases involving software innovations, the inquiry of whether claims are “directed to” patent-ineligible subject matter (i.e., Alice/Mayo Step One) often turns on whether the claims focus on “the specific asserted improvement in computer capabilities or, instead, on a process that qualifies as an “abstract idea” for which computers are invoked merely as a tool.” Later, in August 2017, the court decided Visual Memory LLC v. Nvidia Corporation (Visual Memory), which relied on the Enfish guidance to find that claims that were directed to an improved memory system—that configure operational characteristics of a computer’s cache memory based on the type of processor connected to the memory system—allowed the claimed invention to accommodate different types of processors without compromising performance, an improvement in computer functionality and therefore patent-eligible under Step One. Visual Memory was then followed by Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat System, Inc. (January 2018) which held that claims to a behavior-based virus scan that enabled more flexible and nuanced virus filtering and detection of potentially dangerous code were a specific improvement in computer functionality and hence not directed to an abstract idea under Step One, Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L. v. LG Electronics, Inc. (January 2018) which held that claims to a method for making websites easier to navigate on a small-screen device were directed to a specific type of index for a specific type of user and so not directed to an abstract idea under Step One, and Data Engine Technologies LLC v. Google LLC (October 2018) which held that claims to a specific method for navigating through three-dimensional electronic spreadsheets recite a specific structure (i.e., notebook tabs) within a particular spread-sheet display that performs a specific function (i.e., navigating within a three-dimensional spreadsheet) and were not directed to an abstract idea under Step One.
For patent applicants and patentees, Ancora provides welcome additional affirmation by the CAFC of the patentability of software-based innovations, along with an additional example of an innovation that represents a patent-eligible improvement to computer capabilities.

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