Cable Providers “Cut the Cord”: Audio/Video Streaming Patents Fail Both Alice Steps

The Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the Delaware District Court in Two-Way Media, Ltd. v. Comcast Cable Communications, Inc., Nos. 16-2531, 16-2532 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 1, 2017), determining that Two-Way Media’s patents were invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The patents at issue claimed an improved scalable architecture for delivering real-time audio and video information to multiple recipients using a communications system, such as the internet.

 The Federal Circuit reviewed Two-Way Media’s patents following the steps provided in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014). The Court determined that the claims failed step one of Alice because the claims were directed to a judicial exception (an abstract idea). Moreover, the Court noted that the provided claim constructions proposed the use of generic computer components to perform the abstract idea, and thus the patents failed to claim any improvement in system function.

 Moving to step two of Alice, the Court found no “saving inventive concept” that would transform the nature of the claim into a patent-eligible application, as the claims only recited conventional steps using conventional computer and network technology to achieve their desired result. Thus, the Court concluded that the claims were invalid under § 101.