Asserted Claims of Digital Advertising Distribution Patents Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss because the asserted claims of plaintiff’s digital advertising distribution patents encompassed unpatentable subject matter and found that the claims were directed toward an abstract idea. "⁠[Plaintiff] argues that its patents constitute a 'paradigm shift, causing ad systems to behave in an unconventional manner' by providing for real-time insertion of advertisements, selected on attributes or other criteria, instead of 'preinserted' ads that result in all consumers viewing the same advertising content. . . . [T]he claims of the three patents are directed to an ineligible abstract idea: specifically, custom advertising based upon consumer qualities or other data. . . . The different patents and claims envision different arrangements of generic computers to implement this concept in different ways. But, at bottom, they do not represent or describe improvements in computing systems, specific new software or hardware or technology, or some other type of computing method that improves the computer's functionality or makes it more efficient, such as an information 'structure designed to improve the way a computer stores and retrieves data in memory.'"

Quantum Stream Inc. v. Charter Communications, Inc. et al, 1-17-cv-01696 (NYSD March 1, 2018, Order) (Engelmayer, USDJ)