Anonymous Loan Shopping Patents Invalid Under Alice

The court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment that plaintiff's anonymous loan shopping patents were invalid for lack of patentable subject matter. "[T]he claims are directed to the idea of allowing users to assess their borrowing ability without revealing their identities to the lenders until they wish to do so. . . . [T]he Court agrees that the claims lack an 'inventive' concept sufficient to transform that abstract idea into a patentable invention. . . . Nothing in the [patent’s] claims 'purport[s] to improve the functioning of the computer itself.' They do not 'effect an improvement in any other technology or technical field.'. . . Nor do the claims solve a challenge particular to the internet. . . . Nor are the claims adequately tied to 'particular machines.'"

Mortgage Grader, Inc. v. Costco Wholesale Corporation et al, 8-13-cv-00043 (CACD January 12, 2015, Order) (Guilford, J.)