When determining whether patent claims recite patent-eligible subject matter under Title 35 of the U.S. Code, Section 101, courts follow the two-step framework from the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International decision.
The first step of the Alice test determines whether the claims are "directed to" an abstract idea. If not, then the claims are patent-eligible. If so, then the second step of the Alice test determines whether the claims contain an "inventive concept" sufficient to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application.
The detailed description of the claimed invention is considered in the two-step framework, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's recent opinion in Simio LLC v. FlexSim Software Products Inc. may change how the detailed description is reviewed when determining whether the claims are "directed to" an abstract idea in the first step of the Alice test.
Excerpted from Law360. To read the full article, click here. (Subscription required)