Different Views of Mayo on Patent Eligibility Lead to Another 2-1 Federal Circuit Decision

Computerized methods of eliminating risk in bank funds exchanges are patent eligible, according to another split decision on 35 U.S.C. §101 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit July 9 (CLS Bank International v. Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd., Fed. Cir., 2011-1301, 7/9/12).

Reversing a district court ruling, the majority analyzed the “inventive concept”—a term introduced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mayo v. Prometheus—of the patent claims asserted in this case by looking at the claims as a whole.

The dissent faulted the majority for not specifically identifying the inventive concept. ...