Activity Tracking Devices – Update: Judge Lord Finds Remaining Patents Invalid Under Section 101

On April 27, Judge Dee Lord found the two remaining Jawbone patents in the 963 Investigation (Certain Activity Tracking Devices, Systems, and Components Thereof) invalid under Section 101. The two patents subject to this Initial Determination were family members of one of the patents Judge Lord found invalid on March 3 (see prior post), a decision the Commission adopted on April 4 (see prior post).

Judge Lord found that, similar to the patents already found invalid, the remaining patents "seek a monopoly on the abstract ideas of collecting and monitoring sleep and other health-related data, and are therefore ineligible under section 101." Judge Lord acknowledged, as had the Commission's Notice, that the law was unsettled as to whether the presumption of patent validity applied to Section 101 challenges, but said that "[u]nder even the most generous view of the law, it is clear that the [first] patent is ineligible," and that the same general principles also