Looking Ahead
Supreme Court Vacates Ultramercial Decision for Further Consideration
On June 19, 2014, in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, No. 13-298, 573 U.S. __ (2014), the Supreme Court held that claims directed to “settlement risk” implemented by a general purpose computer were not patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. In analyzing the claims, the Supreme Court applied its two-step framework from Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 132 S. Ct. 1289 (2012). Under this framework, the Supreme Court concluded that the claims at issue were not patent eligible because the claims “simply recite the concept of intermediated settlement as performed by a generic computer.”
Slip op. at 15.
On June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court also granted certiorari in
WildTangent, Inc. v. Ultramercial, LLC, No. 13-255 (S. Ct. June 30, 2014). The Supreme Court vacated the Federal Circuit’s decision in
Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC, 722 F.3d 1335 (Fed. Cir. 2013), without opinion and remanded the decision for further consideration in light of its decision in
Alice Corp.
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