Federal Circuit: Software Not An Abstract Idea—Is Patentable

Software patents are alive. Again. Many pundits have been saying it since the Supreme Court’s Alice decision on patentable subject matter in 2014 but there has been little guidance on the topic from the leading courts until now.On Thursday, the Federal Circuit ruled unanimously that software and data structures were not inherently abstract ideas and were therefore patentable under…

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April 2016 Patent Law Update

dreamstime_s_38780059 2USPTO Subject Matter Guidelines UpdatedIf you haven’t seen them, the USPTO published patentable subject matter hypotheticals, with an accompanying analysis. The PTO published these examples last year but recently added more examples that include a focus on bio-related technologies.Courts Cannot “Factor Out” Functional Elements When Construing Design Patent ClaimsSport Dimension, Inc. v. Coleman Co., Inc. (Fed.…

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