Alice/Mayo Test

March 7, 2022
A photo of two TSA-approved luggage locks bearing the red Travel Sentry logo.

Maker of Travel Locks Fails to Revive Patents on Appeal

Travel Sentry, Inc. v David A. Tropp, No. 2021-1908 (Fed. Cir., Feb. 14, 2022). The patents claimed an economic practice and method of organizing human activity, which is not subject-matter that can be protected under the patent system.
July 7, 2021

CAFC Invalidates a Camera Patent, Blurring Lines in the Patent Eligibility Inquiry

Fed. Cir. No. 2020-1760: The CAFC sided with Apple and Samsung, finding a patent for an “improved” digital camera to be an abstract idea and not patent-eligible subject matter.
April 30, 2019
GUI on a computer monitor showing a stock performance

Stock Trading GUI Falls Short of Patentability Requirements in US

Fed. Cir. 2017-2257 - CAFC Reaffirms: GUI That Merely Collects and Displays Data Is Not Patentable
April 3, 2019
Researcher holding a petri dish in gloved hands

Method of Medical Treatment Patents in Danger?

Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Vanda Pharmaceuticals, SCOTUS Docket No. 18-817 - The beginning of the end for method of treatment patents?
October 17, 2017

U.S. Federal Circuit Deems Software Innovation is Patent-Eligible, But Not Infringed

2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 8699 (Fed. Cir. 2016) - The US CAFC reversed the decision of a district court in part, finding that the claims in a software patent were patent-eligible, and reversed the finding that the claims were anticipated, but affirmed the district court’s decision that there was no infringement.
September 6, 2016

Patent Application for Blackjack Variation Rejected as Unpatentable Subject Matter

In Re Smith, (Fed. Cir. 2015-1664) - A patent application for a variation on the blackjack game was rejected as unpatentable after the CAFC applied the two-step test for patentable subject matter from Mayo and Alice.
June 20, 2014

Reciting a Generic Computer or Conventional Computer Implementation Not Sufficient to Render an Otherwise Abstract Idea Patent Eligible

Alice Corp v CLS Bank, No 13–298, 573 US ____ (2014) - The US Supreme Court rejected patent claims that “relate to a computerized scheme for mitigating ‘settlement risk’" for being drawn to the abstract idea of intermediated settlement. Merely requiring generic computer implementation fails to transform that abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention.