Crowd-Funding Tech Can’t Be Patented

A New York judge has invalidated a 2011 patent for a website that enables fans to crowd-fund creators’ work, saying it is essentially a system of patronage. A 2000-era startup, ArtistShare, had asked Kickstarter to license the patent for their rewards-based fundraising model, but Kickstarter sued, asking a judge to invalidate the patent. The judge obliged, saying, “Even the addition of an element of computer use is insufficient to render it valid.”