Justices Deny Patent Appeal That Referenced Newman Suspension

The US Supreme Court rejected a bid to review decisions invalidating a patent owned by a background-check software maker that had argued that an appellate judge’s suspension had hurt its case.

Miller Mendel Inc.'s patent was deemed abstract under Section 101 of the Patent Act under the high court’s two-step patent eligibility test from its 2014 decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l., first by an East Texas district court judge and then by a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The company had sued the small city of Anna, Texas, for alleged infringement of its US Patent No. 10,043,188.

Miller Mandel argued that the Federal Circuit decision should be reversed in part because perhaps the biggest critic of the Alice decision on the court, Judge Pauline Newman, was suspended and thus not able to sit on the panel that decided the case against it. Separately Miller Mendel said the appeals court was wrong to rely on a declaration from an executive of a rival software provider that sold software to the city and several other governmental bodies that Miller Mandel is also suing.

Rylander & Associates represents Miller Mendel. The City of Anna is represented by Dunlap Codding PC.

The case is Miller Mendel Inc. v. City of Anna, U.S., 24-439, cert. denied 11/25/24.