Supreme Court Rules on Patents: Alice Corp v. CLS Bank - Podcast

In its surprisingly short opinion in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank on June 19, 2014, the Supreme Court invalidated Alice Corporation's patent on a computer-implemented technology for managing risk in financial transactions as claiming an “abstract idea.” In doing so, is the Court continuing a practice it began with its 2010 decision in Bilski v. Kappos, in which it strikes down patents on the grounds that they allegedly cover unpatentable subject matter like an abstract idea or law of nature? Is the Court providing enough legal guidance such that inventors and commercial firms working in the innovation industries can know with certainty if their discoveries or inventions are patentable?

• Prof. Adam Mossoff, Professor of Law and Co-Director of Academic Programs and Senior Scholar, Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property, George Mason University School of Law

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