Fed. Circ. Affirms that Alice Kills Patents in Sallie Mae Case

On February 27, 2017, the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of Finnegan clients PNC and SunTrust, upholding a district court's ruling that four Parus Holdings patents were invalid under the Supreme Court's Alice decision.

In November 2014, Parus Holdings filed a law suit against several financial institutions, including PNC and SunTrust, alleging infringement of four of its patents covering the unification of electronic communications such as email, text, and fax, and solving incompatibility problems. PNC and SunTrust argued that the patents were directed to an abstract idea and therefore invalid.