A Tale of Two Printed Publications
| November 8, 2018
GoPro, Inc. v. Contour IP Holding LLC;
November 1, 2018
Before Reyna, Wallach, and Hughes. Opinion by Lourie.
and
Acceleration Bay LLC v. Activision Blizzard, Inc.
November 6, 2018
Before Prost, Moore, and Reyna. Opinion by Moore.
Summary
It was a flexible standard. It was a narrow standard. It was a sales catalog at a trade show that those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not have attended. It was a technical report uploaded to a university subject matter-specific library website. The Federal Circuit determined that the sales catalog was a prior art “printed publications” within the scope of 35 U.S.C. 102, but not the technical report.
Spreadsheet Tabs Survive Alice Test of Patent Subject Matter Eligibility
| November 2, 2018
Data Engine Technologies LLC v. Google LLC
October 9, 2018
Before Reyna, Bryson, Stoll. Opinion by Stoll.
Summary:
This case is about patent claims to spreadsheet functionality. On an appeal from a grant of a motion for judgement on the pleadings for lack of patent-eligible subject matter, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed-in-part finding some of the claims patent eligible. Specifically, the claims reciting a “spreadsheet page identifier being displayed as an image of a notebook tab” were held as not being directed to an abstract idea. However, claims that more generally recite identifying and storing electronic spreadsheet pages and claims that recite methods that allow electronic spreadsheet users to track their changes were held as invalid under § 101 because they fail step one of Alice as being abstract, and they fail step two of Alice because they merely recite the method of implementing the abstract idea itself.
