In Yu v. Apple Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit invalidated a digital camera patent as abstract. The decision implies that the court is taking a broader interpretation of what technologies can fall under Alice's purview. Practitioners are concerned that this decision opens the door to invalidate patents on mechanical inventions as abstract rather than looking at whether the patent is novel. As Alice is increasingly being expanded to invalidate patents for inventions of tangible items that have long been considered off-limits, practitioners are struggling to figure out what is patent eligible and what is not. Finnegan partner Kevin Rodkey cautioned patent owners. "A court's not going to say just because you have a mechanical invention, you're absolved from 101," he said.
Read, "Fed. Circ.'s Camera Patent Ax Makes Eligibility Rules Murkier"
