First Post-Alice Method Patent Is Upheld By Federal Circuit

Haynes and Boone attorneys Raghav Bajaj and Joseph R. Mencher look at a noteworthy recent IP decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  On Dec. 5, that court issued its first post-Alice opinion upholding the validity of a computer-implemented business method claim, in DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P. It’s important to note, they write, that neither in Alice (Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International) nor Bilski (Bilski v. Kappos) is there a “categorical exclusion of either business methods or computer software from patent eligibility. DDR Holdings confirms the viability of such claims so long as a viable inventive concept can be found.”