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ARTICLE · 15 OCTOBER 2024

Federal Circuit Finds Electronic Programming Guide Patents Ineligible Under Alice

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
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In Broadband iTV, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 23-1107 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 3, 2024), the Federal Circuit upheld a district court's ruling that Broadband iTV's patents are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to unpatentable subject matter.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Brandon T. Andersen
Brandon T. Andersen
Sonja Sahlsten
Sonja Sahlsten
Prince Ene
Prince Ene
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In Broadband iTV, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 23-1107 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 3, 2024), the Federal Circuit upheld a district court's ruling that Broadband iTV's (BBiTV) patents are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to unpatentable subject matter.

BBiTV asserted that Amazon's video-on-demand systems infringed five of its patents, all of which relate to creating electronic programming guides for video content. Amazon moved for summary judgment, arguing that the asserted claims were directed to ineligible subject matter. The district court granted the motion, ruling that the claims were ineligible under the Alice framework established by the Supreme Court.

The Federal Circuit affirmed. Applying the two-step Alice test, the Court first determined that the patents were directed to an abstract idea: either "receiving hierarchical information and organizing the display of video content" or "collecting and using viewing history data to recommend categories of video

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