Alice v. CLS Bank (2012, USA)

Alice v. CLS Bank

• Alice v. CLS overview
  • CAFC en banc ruling 2013
  • Supreme Court ruling 2014
  • Amicus briefs to Supreme Court

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• US case law

News: The US Supreme Court has heard this case and is expected to rule by June 2014.

CLS Bank International v. Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. is a patent dispute which has brought the question to the US Supreme Court of whether (or when) software can be patentable subject matter. The question the court must respond to is:

Whether claims to computer-implemented inventions – including claims to systems and machines, processes, and items of manufacture – are directed to patent-eligible subject matter within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 101 as interpreted by this Court.

This is big! Much bigger than Bilski (which was a business method patent and we had to hope the ruling would have an effect on software).

The case was already heard twice by the CAFC. For analysis of the second ruling, en banc, see CLS Bank v. Alice ruling by US CAFC on 8 May 2013.

US Supreme Court

Amicus briefs were submitted in February 2014: Alice v. CLS Bank amicus briefs

The oral hearing was on 31 March: hearing transcript

Articles reviewing the oral hearing:

• Unpatentable: See Bilski, Mayo, Flook, and Benson, 31 March 2014, Patently-O
• Supreme Court skeptical of computer-based patents, 31 March 2014, USA Today
  • Discussion: Slashdot
• Missed Opportunities for Alice, Software at the Supreme Court, 31 March 2014, IP Watchdog (strong pro-swpat bias)

CAFC en banc

Amicus briefs

Are there any briefs that support abolishing software patents? I didn't find any in the 18 briefs posted by Patently-O on 19 December. Patently-O added that "briefing continues" and that the briefs supporting Alice are due in January 2013, but if all the remaining briefs support Alice then we won't find any anti-swpat arguments in those briefs.

I've read conflicting information about the deadlines for submitting briefs (discussed below).

Some summaries and excerpts of the briefs can be read in Patently-O's article and Groklaw's article.

1. Business Software Alliance (See also: Business Software Alliance)
2. EFF (See also: Electronic Frontier Foundation)
3. CCIA (See also: CCIA)
4. Clearing House Ass'n
5. Google (and Red Hat) et al. (See also: Google, Red Hat)
6. Stites
7. British Airways
8. Profs Hollaar & Trzyna
9. Juhasz law firm
10. Philips (See also: Philips)
11. Internet Retailers
12. IP Owners Ass'n
13. USA govt. (See also: US government)
14. Sigram Schindler
15. NY IP Law Ass'n
16. IP Law Ass'n of Chicago
17. Conejo Valley Bar Ass'n
18. IBM (See also: IBM)

Review of a few briefs

Google, Facebook, Red Hat, et al.

This brief makes good points, but its suggestions still allow that "claims limited to a particular computer implementation of an abstract idea might be patentable subject matter".

EFF 

Places the blame on overly-broad patents.

Deadline for the en banc hearing

Can someone help reconcile these conflicting sources of information on the deadline for filing an amicus brief?

• A lawyer told me the deadline was 45 days after the en banc order, which would make the deadline 22 Nov 2012
• The en banc order says to see Rules of Practice, Rule 29, and that rule's "practice notes" say to see Rule 31(a), which says "In an appeal from a court, the appellant must serve and file its initial brief within 60 days after docketing.", which would be 9 December 2012 (if "docketing" happens on the day of the en banc order).
• But the en banc order was 9 Oct and yet US govt filed their brief on 14 Dec, and Patently-O said on 19 Dec that "briefing continues"

So what was the deadline? Or is it still open??

Timeline

Newest first, dates as YYYY-MM-DD, just the highlights:

• 2013-03-31: Oral arguments heard
• 2013-02-26: Amicus briefs filed (see: the briefs)
• 2013-12-06: US Supreme Court agrees to hear the case
• 2013-05-08: CAFC, en banc, invalidates the patent but can't agree on why (see: the ruling)
• 2012-11-22: Deadline for submitting amicus brief for the en banc rehearing (right? 45 days after the en banc order)
• 2012-10-09: CAFC vacates own 9 July opinion and agrees to rehear case en banc
• 2012-07-09: CAFC publishes opinion in this appeal ("panel decision"): upholds the patent
• 201?-??-??: Appeal filed to CAFC; granted
• 2011-03-09: District court enters final judgement: invalidates the patent
• 2010-02-02: CAFC denies petition for interlocutory appeal
• 2007-05-??: CLS Bank files suit for declaratory judgement of non-infringement or invalidity
• 200?-??-??: Alice accuses CLS Bank of infringing four patents

For more complete timelines, see the court rulings and amicus briefs, particularly the CAFC's 9 July 2012 ruling: [1].

Related pages on ESP Wiki

• List of lawsuits

External links

Court documents

• CAFC ruling of 9 July 2012, upholds patent

Patently-O's coverage

Newest first...

• Awaiting the Outcome of CLS Bank v. Alice Corp., 11 Apr 2013
• CLS Bank v. Alice Corp: Software Patentability On the Briefs, 19 Dec 2012
• Patenting Software: Obama Administration Argues “Sometimes”, 17 Dec 2012 (on the amicus brief of the US govt.)
• Federal Circuit To Announce Whether Software is Patentable?: En Banc Rehearing on Section 101 Issues, 9 Oct 2012
• CLS Bank v. Alice Corp: Patenting Software Ideas, 7 Sep 2012
• Director Kappos: Some Thoughts on Patentability, 4 Aug 2012
• Ongoing Debate: Is Software Patentable?, 27 Jul 2012
• CLS Bank v. Alice: The "Nothing More Than" Limitation on Abstract Ideas, 10 July 2012