Addressing a challenge of
the Alice/Mayo framework in the context of the
Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Fifth Amendment's
due process clause, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
affirmed a Patent Trial & Appeal Board (Board) decision finding
that patent claims directed to analyzing social security benefit
applications were patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §
101. In re Killian, Case No. 21-2113 (Fed. Cir. Aug.
23, 2022) (Taranto, Clevenger, Chen, JJ.)
Jeffrey Killian filed a patent application related to a system
and method for determining eligibility for social security
disability insurance (SSDI) benefits through a computer network.
The examiner rejected the claims under § 101, finding that
they were directed to the abstract idea of “determining
eligibility for social security disability insurance . . .
benefits” and lacked additional elements amounting to
significantly more than the abstract idea because the additional
elements were simply
