Judge Robinson Denies Defendants’ Motions for Judgment on the Pleadings

December 15, 2016

Publication| Intellectual Property

In Evolved Wireless, LLC v. Apple, Inc. et al., C.A. No. 1-542-SLR (October 31, 2016), Judge Robinson denied the four defendants’ motions for judgment on the pleadings. The defendants argued that two of the five patents in the litigation claimed patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

Judge Robinson determined that the patents claimed patent-eligible subject matter because they were “directed to technological improvements resolving specific problems in wireless communications systems.” The Court also rejected the defendants’ request to disregard a portion of the preamble and claim limitations, rather than reading it as a whole, which would have left a patent-ineligible mathematical algorithm remaining. Furthermore, Judge Robinson denied the defendants’ request to analyze the patents in the context of prior art under Section 102.

Key Points:  A claim containing a mathematical formula can satisfy the requirements of Section 101 if it is directed to improving a technological process.

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