PTAB Follows Fed. Circ. Lead, Upholds Trading Patent

On February 17, 2017, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in favor of Finnegan client Trading Technologies International, upholding a Federal Circuit decision that found Trading Technologies' electronic trading patent was not invalid under the Supreme Court's Alice decision. Trading Technologies has filed patent infringement suits against numerous companies in the financial industry, including TradeStation Group, Inc. and IBG LLC. The PTAB said TradeStation and IBG had not shown why it should not uphold the appellate court’s decision, which had ruled that this and another Trading Technologies patent covered technological improvements, not abstract ideas.