Supreme Court: Less focus on patent matters post-Alice

Alice v CLS (2014) was a landmark case for patent eligibility. The decision held that Alice’s patents were invalid because the claims were drawn to an abstract idea. Implementing them on a computer wasn’t enough to transform the abstract idea into patentable subject matter.

The Supreme Court saw numerous patent related cases in the wake of Alice.

chart of US Supreme Court Patent related cases year by year; from 2014 to 2021

 However since then, there has been much less focus on patent matters. 2014 saw 6 patent related matters appear, Alice being the first.

The subsequent years saw:
2015 3 cases
2016 2 cases
2017 0 cases
2018 3 cases
2019 3 cases
2020 1 case
2021 2 cases

List of United States Supreme Court patent case law

You might enjoy Bob’s Patent Beast comic series on the Alice v CLS decision ramifications.

You can learn more about the Patent Beast Comics here.