Texas City Beats Patent on Background-Check Software in Appeal

The Federal Circuit ruled a Seattle software maker’s patent asserted against several state and local government agencies that used a competitor’s background-check product is abstract and partially invalid.

The ruling is a blow to Miller Mendel Inc.'s 2021 lawsuit against Anna, Texas, a city of fewer than 25,000 that used software from Guardian Alliance Technologies to run background checks for new law enforcement hires. In April 2022, Judge J. Rodney Gilstrap of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas found three claims Miller Mended asserted against the city from its US Patent No. 10,043,188 to be abstract ...