Multi-Level Encryption Patents Not Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

​ The court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiff’s encryption patents encompassed unpatentable subject matter because the asserted claims were not directed toward an abstract idea. "Plaintiff has adequately pleaded in this case that the patents create a solution to a computer-centric problem which is not addressed by the prior art. Despite Defendant's assertions, the claims are not reducible to putting a sealed envelope (single-level encryption) into a second sealed envelope (multi-level encryption) for extra security. Rather, the claims provide a specific solution to implementing the multiple levels of nested security through the 'object oriented key manager.' They offer a solution to a problem, multiple users in multiple locations accessing information at different security levels from a central repository, which would not exist but for the ubiquity of computer technology."

TecSec, Incorporated v. International Business Machines Corporation, et al, 1-10-cv-00115 (VAED May 23, 2017, Order) (O'Grady, USDJ)