Patents for Processing information Via Networked Computers Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss because the asserted claims of plaintiff’s patents for processing information via networked computers encompassed unpatentable subject matter and found that the claims were directed toward an abstract idea. "Plaintiff contends that the claims here are not directed to abstract ideas, but instead to a new computer (or, more specifically, a more efficiently and reliably distributed configuration of multiple computers), resulting in better performance. . . . [I]t is clear that the networked computers utilized in the [patents-in-suit] are merely generic computers tasked with performing generic functions. . . . Nor are the claimed systems or methods limited to a particular type of process or task. . . . [T]he claims are not directed to solving a technological problem or solve a challenge particular to a specific environment, nor do they contemplate some 'new' type of computer. . . . Plaintiff also contends that the claims here are not directed to abstract ideas because they cannot be performed by humans. But the fact that inventions here are implemented on computers or only exist in the computing realm does not save them."

Appistry, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. et al, 2-15-cv-01416 (WAWD July 19, 2016, Order) (Jones, J.)