- Software is patentable, but many software patent applications fail either during prosecution at the Patent Office or later in litigation.
- The Supreme Court’s Alice decision plays a central role in determining which software patent claims survive and which do not.
- Craige walks through how to evaluate whether a software claim is likely to survive an Alice-based challenge.
- He identifies certain “red flag” phrases in claim language that tend to signal potentially weak, Alice-vulnerable claims.
- A patent office action is a normal part of the software patenting process, notifying the applicant of problems with some or all claims and what must be fixed.
Summary: Patenting Software: Red Flags to Check For
Software is patentable – we do it here at TPL all the time. But many software inventions die a slow, and painful death in the patent office. Many others are killed off in litigation – all due to a Supreme Court case called Alice. Alice shapes which software claims thrive, and which don’t survive. In today’s EPG case, Craige explores how to identify whether claims will survive Alice. Craige also offers some Litigation Quality Patent practice pointers – including “red flag” phrases that are symptoms of potentially weak claims.
Patent Claims
Actually, they are a normal part of the process of patenting software. An office action serves to notify the applicant of problems with the application, whether it’s regarding some or all of the claims and what must be done to make the claim patentable.
