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edit: I just noticed that the CAFC opinion is designated nonprecedential > The court’s ruling comes in response to a preliminary motion filed by Cloudflare und
by monochromatic 8y ago
edit: I just noticed that the CAFC opinion is designated nonprecedential
> The court’s ruling comes in response to a preliminary motion filed by Cloudflare under Section 101 of the U.S. Patent Act. That section defines what sort of things can be patented. Such motions are generally referred to as “Alice” motions because the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 2014 case (Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l) that a two-part test could be used to determine patent eligibility based on whether something is more than merely an abstract idea or at least creates an inventive use for an abstract principle. The Alice test helps to determine whether something is patentable subject matter or an unpatentable fundamental concept. Judge Chhabria found that Blackbird’s ‘355 patent was too abstract to be patentable subject matter.
(https://blog.cloudflare.com/bye-bye-blackbird/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/bye-bye-blackbird/)
This ruling was then affirmed by the CAFC. In what way is it non precedential? I sure wouldn't want to be Blackbird trying to assert that patent in a new litigation...
- howard941 8y agoDo you have a link to the Fed Circuit's opinion?
- apendleton 8y agoThe whole opinion, such as it is, is right there at the bottom of the blog post. It just says "Affirmed."
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- apendleton 8y agoThe patent wasn't revoked. Blackbird can continue to collect from parties it has already sued who settled, and can sue new parties if it so chooses. The courts who hear those cases aren't required to respect the previous judgments -- the appeals court ruling even says "Note: This disposition is nonprecedential" right at the top. And even if courts would potentially find the previous ruling at least persuasive, respondents would still have to undergo significant court costs just to mount a defense, and many will still choose not to do so and instead to settle, which Blackbird knows.