A successful software patent [Patent Reviews

Abstract

Recently the US Supreme Court, in "Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank International," defined a two-step process for determining if a software claim is eligible for patenting. The first step is to determine whether the claim is directed to a patent-ineligible concept, such as an abstract idea. Other ineligible concepts are laws of nature and natural phenomena, but software's ineligibility usually arises from a finding of abstractness, so this will be our focus. If it is found that a patent claim is directed to an abstract idea, the second step is to determine whether the elements of the claim, both individually and as an ordered combination, transform the claim into a patent-eligible application. Surviving the analysis of the US Supreme Court's decision in 'Alice' does not complete a patent's journey to success. It must also pass the other tests for patentability. In another recent decision, "Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corporation," the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that claims to a logical model for a computer database did not conflict with the Alice test for abstractness. For software patentees, amid a flurry of bad news, decisions like 'Enfish' provide hope that, perhaps, some software inventions can continue to be patented.