Web Based Communication Patent Ineligible Under 35 U.S.C. § 101​

The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss because the asserted claims of plaintiff’s web based communication patent encompassed unpatentable subject matter and found that the claims were directed toward an abstract idea. "[Plaintiff] argues that that the patent claims are like those in [Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., 822 F.3d 1327 (Fed Cir. 2016)] because they focus on improvements to apparatuses (computers and computing devices), not processes. [Plaintiff] contends that '[p]rior to the [patent-in-suit], no computer existed that had the same capabilities as those claimed in the [patent].'. . . [P]atent eligibility does not depend on the form of the claim. . . . The language of the claims and specification make clear that the focus of the claims is on the abstract process of retrieving and transmitting data, and that this process is performed on general-purpose, ordinary computer components. . . . [T]he claim language is silent as to how to actually achieve the collection and transmission of information. There are no specifics about what those pre-stored sequences of actions are, what action is taken on a remote Internet site, how information is accessed and returned from the Internet site, or what information is returned. . . . The patent claims a process that humans have long performed, but implements it on a generic Internet-connected device used in its ordinary capacity. This is not sufficient to be deemed non-abstract."

Content Aggregation Solutions LLC v. BLU Products, Inc., 3-16-cv-00527 (CASD November 29, 2016, Order) (Benitez, USDJ)