Federal Circuit Finds Electronic Programming Guide Patents Ineligible Under Alice

In Broadband iTV, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 23-1107 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 3, 2024), the Federal Circuit upheld a district court’s ruling that Broadband iTV’s (BBiTV) patents are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to unpatentable subject matter.

BBiTV asserted that Amazon’s video-on-demand systems infringed five of its patents, all of which relate to creating electronic programming guides for video content. Amazon moved for summary judgment, arguing that the asserted claims were directed to ineligible subject matter. The district court granted the motion, ruling that the claims were ineligible under the Alice framework established by the Supreme Court.

The Federal Circuit affirmed. Applying the two-step Alice test, the Court first determined that the patents were directed to an abstract idea: either “receiving hierarchical information and organizing the display of video content” or “collecting and using viewing history data to recommend categories of video content.” The Court rejected BBiTV’s arguments based on Core Wireless and Data Engine because reordering content within a user guide is not a sufficient technological improvement. Under Alice’s step two, the court found nothing in the claims that would transform them into “something more” than the abstract idea. The claims merely used conventional computer components and methods to automate a well-known process without adding anything innovative or technological.