Realtime Data LLC, dba IXO v. Fortinet, Inc., et al.

Section 101 of the Patent Act of 1952, 35 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., provides that “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof,” is eligible for a patent. 35 U.S.C. § 101. This Court issued a trio of decisions relating to Section 101 between 2010 and 2014, culminating in the Court’s decision in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014). There, the Court held, among other things, that abstract ideas are not patentable under Section 101. Id. at 217. Petitioner Realtime Data LLC, d/b/a IXO (“Realtime”) holds multiple patents relating to improvements in the functioning of computer systems through novel uses of data compression techniques. Seven such patents, comprising 211 individual patent claims, were before the Federal Circuit, which held that all 211 claims of all seven patents were ineligible for patent protection under the Court-created exception to Section 101 for abstract ideas. The question presented in this case is as follows: Whether the claimed inventions are ineligible for patent protection under the abstract-idea exception to Section 101.