Predictive Keyboard Patent Not Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101 at Pleading Stage

The court denied defendant's motion to dismiss on the ground that plaintiff’s predictive keyboard application patent encompassed unpatentable subject matter because defendant failed to establish that the asserted claim was directed toward an abstract idea. "[Defendant] argues that claim 19 is directed to the abstract idea of listing word completion candidates based on partial information, analogizing the claim to the games Hangman and Wheel of Fortune. . . . [C]laim 19 does not automate a mental process previously practiced by humans. The court sees no reasonable scenario in which a mobile device user would type the first letter of a word she wishes to enter, then consult a list of possible completion candidates, then return to entering the text, for she would already know what her intended text was. . . . If less time is required to enter text, then less time is required to operate the device. Plaintiffs argue, therefore, that claim 19 improves the operation of the device. [Defendant] offers no compelling rebuttal. Accordingly, at this early stage of the proceedings, [defendant] has not met its burden to show that claim 19 is directed to an abstract idea."

WordLogic Corporation et al v. Fleksy, Inc., 1-16-cv-11714 (ILND November 7, 2017, Order) (Lefkow, USDJ)