In Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank International, judges on the en banc Federal Circuit issued five separate opinions, none commanding a majority, on how to determine whether a computer-implemented innovation should be viewed as an “abstract idea” that is ineligible for a patent.
In his petition to the high court, veteran Sidley Austin advocate Carter Phillips wrote, “The Federal Circuit has left no doubt that it is irreconcilably fractured. The uncertainty that now plagues — and will, absent this court’s intervention, continue to plague — the patent system will cause severe harm and waste for innovators and litigants, as well as lower courts and the Patent and Trademark Office.”
