A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit highlights the importance of describing any improvements to
technology in the specification.
In the case of Whitserve LLC v. Dropbox, Inc.,
WhitServe asserted a patent against Dropbox directed to
"safeguarding customer/client data when a business outsources
data processing to third-party Internet-based systems" by
backing up the internet-based data to a client's local
computer.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware dismissed
the complaint, finding that the claims were directed to the
abstract idea of "backing up data records," because it
"is a well-understood practice of human organization that
backup copies are stored in a location separate and distinct from
the original location." The court also found that claims were
not directed to an improvement in computer functionality, noting
that the representative claim "recites only generic computer
components performing routine
