The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Alice Corp. can’t claim four of its patents on a computerized currency trading platform because they're too abstract. Friday’s ruling prevents that trading risk management and investment firm from…
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suing CLS Bank International for patent infringement. Alice had argued that even if the four patents in question were based on abstract ideas, they could still be patentable because of the computer’s role in the invention (http://1.usa.gov/Yz3Yjh). Multiple companies filed amicus briefs in the case. A Google-led group including Dell, Facebook, HomeAway, Intuit, Rackspace, Red Hat and Zynga had said software patent standards were too low. BSA/The Software Alliance said the court shouldn’t limit protections on software patents because software plays a “critical role” in the U.S. economy. The court was divided in the ruling, with five of the nine judges issuing opinions that partially or fully dissented from the majority opinion. Judge Kimberly Moore wrote in a partial dissent that she was concerned the ruling could mean the “death of hundreds of thousands of patents, including all business method, financial system, and software patents as well as many computer implemented and telecommunications patents.” Adam Perlman, a partner with the law firm of Williams & Connolly who represented Alice, said his client had no comment. A CLS Bank spokesman said the company was pleased with the ruling, which “strikes an appropriate balance between innovation and competition, and allows CLS Bank to continue its important operations."