Today, CCIA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank. CLS Bank is one of six patent cases this term, including two that were heard yesterday. For more background information on the case and policy issues presented, see this in-depth article from today by The Washington Post’s Tim Lee.
CCIA’s brief proposed a test for patent-eligibility of software:
Is the software portion of the claim restricted to specific hardware, i.e., a particular type or architecture of computer hardware?
If so, the claim is patentableEligible to be patented. To be patent-eligible, an invention must fall into the categories listed in 35 U.S.C. § 101 (i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter) and cannot be an abstract idea or a law of nature. subject matter.
If not, treat the software portion of the claim as prior artPrior art is the knowledge in the field of a patent that was publicly available before the patent was filed. and examine the remaining claim to determine if what is left is patentableEligible to be patented. To be patent-eligible, an invention must fall into the categories listed in 35 U.S.C. § 101 (i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter) and cannot be an abstract idea or a law of nature. subject matter.
Two students from the Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic at Stanford Law School, Michael Chen and Rachel Yu, assisted in drafting this brief, supervised by Professor Phil Malone.
