Federal Circuit Appears Split On Patentability Of Computer-Implemented Business Methods

On February 8, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reheard en banc the question whether computer-implemented business methods are eligible for a U.S. patent. The case, CLS Bank International v. Alice Corporation, posed to the full court competing views of the answer to that question. Based on this author's observations, the court appears fractured and a split decision is likely. Because of the unusual posture of the case, it is possible that the district court's decision may be vacated and remanded for further findings.

District Court: Method of Settling Transactions Not Patent-Eligible

Alice Corporation is an Australian company that obtained four U.S. patents relating generally to the use of an intermediary to mitigate settlement risk in financial transactions. Among other things, the patents describe a computer-implemented system and method for keeping track of credits and debits incurred by exchange institutions during the day, and then