Last Month at the Federal Circuit
Last Month at the Federal Circuit

October 2011

Spotlight Info

In Ultramercial, LLC v. Hulu, LLC, No. 10-1544 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 15, 2011), the Federal Circuit held that patent claims directed to a method for distributing copyrighted material over the Internet where the consumer receives the material for free in exchange for viewing an advertisement were patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

While “any new, non-obvious, and fully disclosed technical advance” is eligible for patent protection, the Court noted only three categories that fall outside eligibility:  (1) nature, (2) physical phenomenon, and (3) abstract ideas.  Carefully considering the claims-at-issue with respect to the restriction of abstract ideas, the Court held that even though the idea of advertising used as a form of currency is abstract, the patent-in-suit “discloses a practical application” of the idea, and many of the claimed steps require complex programming and an extensive computer interface.  The Court found that these factors, considered in total, are enough to place the claims-at-issue within the realm of § 101 subject matter.

See this month’s edition of Last Month at the Federal Circuit for a full summary of this decision.