Interactive Toy Patents Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101​

The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss because the asserted claims of plaintiff’s interactive toy patents encompassed unpatentable subject matter and found that the claims were directed toward an abstract idea. "Here, the Patents-In-Suit involve toys that communicate or interact amongst one another, with humans, or with computers. The toys generate, receive, and analyze sounds. They transmit, receive, and respond to a signal. They generate acoustic signals, receive the acoustic signals, analyze the signal, and then perform a responsive function. At core, the patents attempt to state methods for toys to communicate by sending, receiving, and responding to signals. The claims do not state a means by which to communicate, but rather are directed at the abstract process of communication itself. . . . Plaintiff attempts to characterize the patents as 'tangible toys or devices' and therefore not abstract. . . . The mere inclusion of tangible elements in an otherwise abstract idea does not render the subject matter any less abstract."

Dialware Communications, LLC v. Hasbro, Inc., 2-16-cv-09012 (CACD March 22, 2017, Order) (Real, USDJ)