Data Distribution Patent Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

In a final written decision, the Board found claims of a data distribution patent unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 101. "Patent Owner contends using an access mechanism that enforces rules to limit each and every access to unprotected forms of the data is: (1) an inventive concept, (2) recites a specific way of achieving a desired result, and (3) improves the functioning of the computer itself. . . . Patent Owner further asserts claim 1 requires a computer or other devices having the specific claimed technology, including the claimed access mechanism that enforces the access rules. . . . Patent Owner’s arguments are not persuasive because claim 1 does not recite a computer, electronic data, encrypted data, or a computer network. We agree with Petitioner that claim 1 as written may or may not involve a computer at all. We also are not persuaded by Patent Owner’s arguments that claim 1 survives the machine or transformation test because claim 1 requires a specific network architecture and a particular machine. . . . Patent Owner does not explain sufficiently how the access mechanism recited in claim 1, construed as 'hardware and/or software for controlling access to data,' requires any more than the generic hardware and computer components disclosed in the ’409 Patent."

Petition for Covered Business Method Patent Review by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., CBM2014-00157 (PTAB January 12, 2016, Order) (Droesch, APJ)