The Software IP Report
Patent-Eligibility of Auction Claims Is Never a Good Bet After Alice
By Charles Bieneman
Categories: Patent Eligibility, Software Patents, The Software IP Report
Patent claims directed to a “method of hosting a computer-based auction over the internet” were held invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 in Advanced Auctions LLC v. eBay, Inc., No. 13CV1612 BEN (JLB) (S.D. Cal., March 26, 2015). The court found the patent claims directed to “the abstract idea of an auction and the generic computer implementation of that idea on the Internet without the addition of any inventive concept.” DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P. was distinguished because the claims in this case did “not override any routine sequence of events.” Further, unlike the claims here, the claims in DDR Holdings were “not directed to implementation of a ‘business practice known from the pre-Internet world.’”