Weak Patent Eligibility Position Alone Supports Attorney Fee Award

Following dismissal for lack of patentable subject matter, the court granted defendants' motions for attorney fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285 because plaintiff's litigation positions were unreasonable. "Patient treatment and monitoring methods such as those claimed by the [patent-in-suit] had been declared ineligible long before [plaintiff] filed its 2016 lawsuits. . . . The numerous cases invalidating claims directed to information collection and analysis, such as the [patent-in-suit's] claims, stood in stark contrast to the handful of cases reaching the contrary conclusion. . . . There were of course gray areas, but by the time [plaintiff's] lawsuits were filed, it should have been clear that the [patent's] claims were 'manifestly directed to an abstract idea.'. . . The weakness in [plaintiff's] § 101 position is by itself a sufficient basis for finding the cases exceptional."

My Health, Inc. v. ALR Technologies, Inc., 2-16-cv-00535 (TXED December 19, 2017, Order) (Payne, MJ)