Patent Eligibility of Commodities Trading Graphical User Interface Affirmed

On January 18, 2017, the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of Finnegan client Trading Technologies Inc., stating that the company's improvements to a graphical user interface for commodities traders are eligible for patenting. Trading Technologies asserted its patent directed to displaying bid and ask prices for a commodity traded on an electronic exchange, against software provider CQG Inc. The Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court's judgment and designated its opinion as nonprecedential—it is believed that this may indicate some consensus on software patent eligibility when it doesn't claim the kind of abstract idea as found in Alice.