Spotlight On Upcoming Oral Arguments – October 2018

SRI International, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., No. 17-2223, Courtroom 201

Cisco appeals from a District of Delaware decision finding that the claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,484,203 ("the '203 patent") and 6,711,615 ("the '615 patent") were patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.  The claims of the '203 patent and '615 patent are directed to systems and methods to monitor an enterprise network using a plurality of network monitors in order to identify and potentially respond to intrusive behavior.  Cisco argues that the claims are directed to the abstract idea of analyzing data to detect suspicious activity in a computer network, using customary computer components performing conventional functions.  SSCI contends that the claims are drawn to overcoming a problem specifically arising with large-scale, enterprise networks.  Specifically, SRI argues that the claims identify specific categories of network traffic data and collecting and integrating that data in a manner