Network Security Patent Not Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

Following jury and bench trials, the court found that plaintiff's network security patent was not invalid for lack of patentable subject matter and found the claims were not directed toward an abstract idea. "Plaintiff contends that contrary to Defendant’s overgeneralization of claim 1 of the [patent-in-suit], claim 1 covers a specific technique of protecting computer networks. . . . The Court finds the claim at issue to be similar to the hypothetical claim in the Patent Office’s guidance. Although Defendant argues and the Court recognizes that the Patent Office’s guidance is not binding, the Court finds its reasoning persuasive. . . . [C]laim 1 of the [patent-in-suit] is directed towards receiving a downloadable, identifying suspicious or malicious code and generating a security profile, and associating the downloadable with the security profile. These steps do not describe an abstract concept as they are directed towards performing steps leading to identifying malicious code to create a new data file containing a security profile. Further, the Patent Office’s hypothetical claim is 'necessarily rooted in computer technology because malicious code or ‘viruses’ have no significance outside the realm of computer technology.' Similarly, claim 1 of the [patent] is also rooted in computer technology as it covers the identification of suspicious code which do not have significance outside the realm of computer technology."

Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Systems, Inc., 5-13-cv-03999 (CAND November 20, 2015, Order) (Freeman, J.)