Thursday, November 17, 2016

It has been a confusing time for software-related patents since the Supreme Court’s 2014 Alice decision.  Subsequent decisions and actions by the U.S. Patent Office informed the intellectual property community about what isn’t patentable under Alice, but not very much had been shared about what is patentable.  This confusion left tech companies scrambling to figure out what to do with existing IP portfolios, and how to move forward in seeking protection for new software-related inventions.

Despite the period of bad news for software-related patent applicants and patent holders, some recent court decisions have started to provide examples of what is still patentable after Alice.  This presentation discussed these recent developments, and share our experiences over the past two years to help intellectual property decision makers figure out how to proceed in the future.

The presentation provided information useful for institutional technology managers, startup executives, and others to:

• Determine whether seeking patent protection makes sense for your software-related invention
• Receive the maximum value from already-filed patent applications
• Use design patents, copyright, and trade secrets to cover the gaps not available through utility patents

This program took place at COJK on November 17, 2016, and was presented by patent attorney David Sheldon.