Publications

Last July, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), the highest appellate level court that typically decides patent matters, held in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc. that the transformation of data by a machine through a series of mathematical calculations into a useful, concrete and tangible result is patentable. While State Street related to the transformation of dollar amounts into share prices, we believe the CAFC holding applies to most other software as well. About the only limitation on patentability imposed by the CAFC is that a mathematical algorithm be “useful” rather than merely an abstract idea. Further, the CAFC rejected on old patent law truism that “methods of doing business” were not patentable.

Of course, to obtain a patent, all other requirements of patentability, including utility and novelty, must be satisfied. Wiggin & Dana will soon be issuing a Client Advisory on the State Street decision.