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

The magistrate judge recommended denying defendant's motion for summary judgment that plaintiff's network firewall patent was invalid for lack of patentable subject matter because the claims were not directed toward an abstract idea. "This is not a case in which an abstract idea or mathematical principle is carried out on a computer — the recited operations are meaningless outside the context of a computer network using specific types of data packets and specific channels defined by particular protocols. [Defendant] is likewise wrong to characterize 'an application proxy' and 'a packet filter' as inherently abstract components because they refer to 'broad "types" or "classes" of firewall components and do not require or connote any specific structure.'. . . The 'application proxy' and 'packet filter' terms refer to specific components that have been construed to perform specific functions within a network. The fact that these components can be implemented in the form of 'hardware and/or software' does not change their concrete, network-specific nature."

Genband US LLC v. Metaswitch Networks Corp. et al, 2-14-cv-00033 (TXED January 6, 2016, Order)