Supreme Court Declines To Clarify The Abstract-Idea Exception To Patentability In Interactive Wearables And Tropp

• Published date: 19 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Patent, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
• Author: Mr Christopher Johns and Alexander M. Boyer

The Supreme Court in Interactive Wearables LLC v. Polar Electro Oy and Tropp, David A. v. Travel Sentry, Inc., et al. declined to hear a pair of cases that could have clarified the abstract-idea exception to patent eligibility. No. 21-1281, 2023 WL 3440746, at *1 (U.S. May 15, 2023); No. 22-22, 2023 WL 3440747 (U.S. May 15, 2023). No opinion was issued, but the Court noted that Justice Kavanaugh would have heard the cases. This marks almost nine years since the Supreme Court last addressed the abstract-idea exception and articulated its current two-step framework to 35 U.S.C. ' 101 in Alice Corp Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int'l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014).

In both Interactive and Tropp, the district court found the asserted claims directed to ineligible abstract ideas. The Eastern District of New York dismissed Interactive's claims related to a "wearable content player" providing information related to media content during a broadcast. 501 F. Supp. 3d 162, 167 (E.D.N.Y. 2020). The claims recited a wearable content player including a receiver, processor, memory, and display, which was controlled by another remote control device to "provide to the user . . . information associated with the content." Id. The district court found the claims were directed to the abstract idea of "providing information in conjunction with media content." Id. at 174. The claims also lacked inventive concept, according to the district court, because they merely "invoke[d] conventional and generic components arranged in a conventional manner." Id. at 179. On appeal, the Federal Circuit summarily affirmed the district court's dismissal. Interactive Wearables, LLC v. Polar Electro Oy, No. 2021-1491, 2021 WL 4783803, at *1 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 14, 2021) (citing Fed. Cir. R. 36).

In Tropp, the Eastern District of New York granted summary judgment on claims relating to a "dual-access lock" for airline luggage, which permitted controlled access by airport personnel using a master key. 527 F. Supp. 3d 256, 260 (E.D.N.Y. 2021). The district court found the underlying concept of a dual-access key "as old as the forgotten high school locker key," id., and held the claims directed to "the application of dual-access locks to airport luggage inspection," id. at 265. Critically, the representative claim recited "making available" a dual-access lock applied to a piece of airline luggage, "marketing the special lock to the consumers," and an "identification structure" signaling an agreement to subject the luggage...