A Federal Circuit panel ruled a Ficep Corp. patent related to factory machine software invalid, upholding a Delaware federal judge’s opinion.
The panel deemed Ficep’s U.S. Patent No. 7,974,719, which automates a system for manufacturing objects, abstract under the first step in the US Supreme Court’s test set out in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International.
“Automating a previously manual process is not sufficient for patent eligibility,” Judge Raymond T. Chen wrote in the nonprecedential opinion issued Monday.
Ficep, a Maryland-based company that makes steel beams used in construction projects, accused its rival Peddinghaus Corp. of infringement in ...