Patenting Cybersecurity And Software Innovations

This article continues our discussion on Intellectual Property (IP) Strategies for Cybersecurity Innovations, with a focus on practice points for improving your chances of patenting cybersecurity and software innovations.

Cybersecurity innovations are often driven by software-based solutions that can typically be protected by patents. Although patent law is jurisdictional, the law in the U.S. serves as guidance for the treatment of software patents worldwide (see related article here).

Frame the Innovation as a Technical Solution to a Technical Problem

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, the U.S. Patent Office took a cautious approach towards any patent applications with broad, high-level process claims. Patent claims that recite high level steps of achieving a technical solution are likely to be considered "abstract" by the U.S. Patent Office and directed to patent-ineligible subject matter.