Ever since the US Supreme Court’s decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S.Ct. 2347 (2014), which held that software carrying out nothing more than a well known abstract idea is patent ineligible, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a slew of decisions invalidating software or “computer implemented” patents. Relatively few decisions have upheld patents that were subject to similar attacks. While some decisions did uphold a relatively few number of software patents under Alice,one of the factors in these cases was whether there was some hardware or structural change in the computer.
However, on October 9, 2018, the Federal Circuit issued a decision upholding a number of patent claims as patent eligible, and not limited to an abstract idea because they were directed to specific improved methods and interfaces for navigating through complex three-dimensional electronic spread sheets. Data Engine Techs. LLC v. Google LLC, Slip Op. 2017-1135 (Federal Circuit October 9, 2018).
In Data Engines, the patented software changed the functionality of the computer at the software level, but not its physical hardware or structure. In brief, the patents that were upheld provided a solution to the complex object functionality of prior art electronic spreadsheets via a method of implementing a notebook-tabbed interface, which allowed users to easily navigate through three-dimensional electronic spreadsheets. The improved “tabbed” interface allowed for rapidly accessing and processing on different interface pages, including, for example, displaying a plurality of page identifiers for selecting individual pages, similar to the tabs on a physical notebook. Thus, the Court held that Data Engine’s process was not directed to an abstract idea under Alice. Rather, the Federal Circuit held that the patents claimed an improvement in the functioning and operation of computers at the software level.
Key Takeaway: When assessing or drafting software patent claims, consider whether the claims as a whole improve the functionality of the computer, and how they do so.

Joseph M. Manak