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ARTICLE · 27 MAY 2020

Federal Circuit: Crowdsourcing Patent Directed To Invalid, Abstract Idea

Holland & Knight
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A pro se applicant appealed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision affirming the rejection of the application's claims.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Anthony Fuga
Anthony Fuga
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A pro se applicant appealed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision affirming the rejection of the application's claims. The application entitled, "Method and System for Developing and Evaluating and Marketing Products Through Use of Intellectual Capital Derivative Rights" was directed to an online collaborative content management system for online product development, as described by the applicant.  

The PTAB determined that in spite of the claims reciting an online system, data structure, server and user devices, the claims were directed to soliciting and evaluating product development contributions received from participants and compensating participants according to that evaluation - in other words, crowdsourcing. Looking more closely at the claimed elements, the applicant failed to persuade the PTAB that the claimed elements were an improvement in the computer or its components' functionality, or otherwise changed how the device functioned.

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