Server Bandwidth Allocation Patent Not Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101​

The magistrate judge recommended denying defendant's motion to dismiss on the ground that plaintiff’s bandwith allocation patent encompassed unpatentable subject matter because the asserted claims were not directed toward an abstract idea. "Defendants argue the Asserted Claims cover the abstract idea of slowing a delivery by delaying a portion of the delivery, based, in part, on past deliveries. . . . The Asserted Claims are directed to transmitting related data, such as parts of file, at different effective rates, with the second effective rate always being slower than the first. Considered in that light, the claims’ 'character as a whole' is directed to the manner by which data is transmitted between two computer systems -- which is not a law of nature, a natural phenomena, or an abstract idea. And even if the underlying concept is well-known in unrelated fields, Alice's Step 1 requires the Court to focus on the claimed advance over the prior art; Defendants have not produced evidence on that point."

Preferential Networks IP, LLC v. AT&T Mobility, LLC d/b/a AT&T Mobility et al, 2-16-cv-01374 (TXED July 15, 2017, Order) (Payne, MJ)