Posts Tagged: "computer implemented methods"

Federal Circuit says computer memory system claims patent eligible, not abstract

The majority determined that the patent claims drawn to a computer memory system did not cover an abstract idea and, therefore, the second step of the Alice test was an unnecessary inquiry… “Our review of the ’740 patent claims demonstrates that they are directed to an improved computer memory system, not to the abstract idea of categorical data storage,” Judge Stoll wrote. “The specification explains that multiple benefits flow from the ’740 patent’s improved memory system.”

America’s patent system favors low tech, not groundbreaking innovation

As you read about the truly mind-numbing stupidity coming from decision makers, whether it is MRI machines declared to be abstract ideas or diagnostics for various forms of cancer not being patent eligible, realize that the overwhelming bulk of this stupidity relates to inventions you cannot touch or operate in any real world sense. While America’s patent remains adrift, shift innovation into the real world if you are interested in a U.S. patent. Truly groundbreaking advances in computer technologies and in the life science sector should only be undertaken if you have a global patent strategy that does not require obtaining useful patent protection in the U.S.

Defining Computer Related Inventions in a post-Alice World

it is absolutely critical that computer related inventions describe the technology to the greatest extent possible, focusing on as much that is tangible as possible.

Revised Chinese patent guidelines mean better prospects for software, business methods than U.S.

In late October, China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) released a set of guidelines for Chinese patent examiners that revises the last guidelines put in place in 2010. Although SIPO has made the revised guidelines available online in the Chinese language only, analysis of those guidelines by the European Patent Office (EPO) and others indicates that, in some important ways, the new guidelines represent a veritable inverse of the current patent examination environment seen here in the United States… China is about to become friendlier to software patents in particular and patent owners more generally by reducing the complexity of prosecution procedures and making more information publicly available. Given the large number of patent applications being filed with China’s patent office, a high percentage of which are not filed with foreign offices as well, and the growing preference for China as a patent infringement litigation venue, it’s likely that these new guidelines are further proof of the growing divide of IP regimes in the United States and China which, if left unchecked, will probably be to the detriment of the U.S. and its economic prospects in future years.

Congress Can Save Software Patents by Repeating One of Its Successes

Part of the problem with the debate over “software patents” has been the near complete failure to accurately describe what these patents protect. Opponents of software patents frequently describe these patents as protecting nothing more than “mathematics” or logic. This is plainly false. Software is a valuable, real-world, technological innovation that is used in everything from vacuums to cars to computers to phones.