On May 18, 2017, Judge Kinkeade issued an Order (available here) that invalidated a patent owned by Investpic. SAP filed a declaratory-judgment lawsuit against Investpic seeking a declaratory judgment that the patent was not infringed and invalid. SAP then moved for judgment on the pleadings that all claims of the patent were invalid for claiming unpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101 and Alice Corp. Pty v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014).
Judge Kinkeade agreed. The patent “discloses the invention of a method and system for statistical analysis, display, and dissemination of financial data over a network.” Judge Kinkeade found that all of the patent’s claims were directed toward the abstract ideas of mathematical calculations and data manipulation, and they do not contain any inventive concept that results in the claims addressing patentable subject matter.
The decision provides a good overview of the current state of Section 101 jurisprudence, and is worth a read for those who litigate patents.