Patent for "Delivering Selectable Media Content and Subsequently Playing the Selected Content on a Portable Device" Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

The magistrate judge recommended granting defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings that plaintiff's portable device media delivery patent was invalid for lack of patentable subject matter and found that the claims were directed toward an abstract idea. "Contrary to [plaintiff's] position, the Supreme Court did not 'delimit the precise contours of the "abstract ideas" category' in [Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int'l, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014)] and instead left the lower courts to develop the category on a case-by-case basis. [Plaintiff's] interpretation of the law is overly narrow, and the distinction [it] attempts to make between 'business methods involving fundamental economic practices' and 'longstanding practices' boils down to semantics. . . . The Court finds that delivering selectable media content and subsequently playing the selected content on a portable device is a longstanding commercial practice and is therefore abstract."

Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc. et al, 6-15-cv-00029 (TXWD June 12, 2015, Order) (Manske, M.J.)