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ARTICLE · 30 NOVEMBER 2017

Return To Sender: § 101 Eligibility Requires Additional Claim Specificity

McDermott Will & Emery
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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found a software patent directed to the transmission of digital communication using a sender-generated identifier to be ineligible subject matter ...

United StatesIntellectual Property
Rolando González
Rolando González
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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found a software patent directed to the transmission of digital communication using a sender-generated identifier to be ineligible subject matter because the claims contained "no additional elements that transform the nature of the claims into a patent-eligible application of the abstract idea." Secured Mail Solutions LLC v. Universal Wilde, Inc., Case No. 16-1728 (Fed. Cir., Oct. 16, 2017) (Reyna, J).

The patent at issue involves methods whereby a sender affixes an identifier on an outer surface of a mail object before the mail object is sent. The identifier takes different forms, such as an "intelligent" barcode, a QR code or a personalized URL. The barcode consists of sender/recipient data and shipping method data that is concatenated into a set of encoded data. An authenticating portion of the barcode is stored for later retrieval by the recipient to verify that the mail object is authentic. The QR code is simply

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