District Court’s and BPAI’s Pre-Alice Determinations of §101 Patentability Unpersuasive in CBM Review

In a finding that the challenged patent was directed to unpatentable subject matter, the Board rejected the patent owner's arguments that the patent had been previously reviewed in other venues where it was not found to be unpatentable. "We also are not persuaded by Patent Owner’s argument that the claims have been reviewed previously by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, as well as a district court, and have been found to cover patent-eligible subject matter. The decisions cited by Patent Owner issued prior to the Supreme Court’s holding in [Alice Corp. Pty, Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014)] and thus, lacked the benefit of authoritative guidance regarding the framework for analyzing § 101 eligible subject matter that was provided by the Court in Alice."

Petition for Covered Business Method Patent Review by Salesforce.com, Inc., CBM2013-00024 (PTAB September 16, 2014, Order) (Braden, APJ)