Data Transmission Patent Not Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

The magistrate judge recommended denying defendant's motion for summary judgment that plaintiff's data transmission patent was invalid for lack of patentable subject matter because the asserted claims were not directed toward an abstract idea. "While there are some parallels between [defendant's] freeway onramp analogy and claim 21, the claim is manifestly narrower than 'traffic metering' and does not cover what happens at a freeway onramp. Claim 21 restricts its applicability to a 'wireless' device with 'a processor' and 'a memory.' Moreover, claim 21 does not cover delaying any data transmission by any amount of time; claim 21 is limited to delaying the transmission of a 'protocol data unit' (a specific type of data packet) by exactly 'an integer multiple of the current air interface transmission time interval.' Also noteworthy is the fact that claim 21 is directed to a purported improvement on an existing type of 'traffic metering' in the wireless network. . . . This is an archetypal example of an invention directed to 'improv[ing] the functioning of the computer itself' or 'improv[ing] an existing technological process' that Courts have repeatedly held to be patent-eligible."

Core Wireless Licensing SARLl v. LG Electronics, Inc. et al, 2-14-cv-00911 (TXED August 8, 2016, Order) (Payne, M.J.)