Case: Patents/Eligibility & Specification (Fed. Cir.)

The Federal Circuit reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirming an examiner’s rejection of claims of an inventor’s patent application for a system and methods for controlling and optimizing information distribution between users in an information exchange. The court said that the board erred in concluding that the apparatus and system claims are ineligible solely because they lack any structure and thus do not fall within a statutorily provided category, and that the board erred in finding some claims indefinite.