Background
Etison LLC, doing business as ClickFunnels, sued HighLevel, Inc. in the District of Delaware for patent infringement regarding two patents covering a website creation system. HighLevel moved to dismiss, arguing the patents claimed ineligible subject matter under Section one hundred and one. The district court treated one claim as representative of all claims and found them invalid as abstract ideas lacking an inventive concept.
The court’s reasoning
The Federal Circuit reviewed the dismissal de novo. While the court found the district court erred in dismissing the representative claim argument without fully addressing the distinctive limitations in dependent claims, it deemed the error harmless. The appellate court agreed with the district court’s step two analysis under the Alice test, concluding that the claims merely recited generic computer functions and functional language without providing specific details on how to improve computer functionality.
We conclude that the district court erred by treating one claim as representative of all challenged claims. Nevertheless, we agree with the district court that all of the claims are invalid, rendering any error harmless.
Opinion at 1
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces that patent applicants must provide specific technical details in their specifications and claims to overcome Section one hundred and one challenges, rather than relying on general assertions of technical advantage.