The CLS Bank
case is controversial because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit, sitting en banc, failed to reach enough agreement on patent
eligibility of computer-related claims to supply precedential jurisprudence.
CLS Bank Int'l v. Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd., 717 F.3d 1269, 2013 BL
124940, 106 U.S.P.Q.2d 1696 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (en banc) (92 PTD, 5/13/13).Alice Corp. asserted four patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,970,479; 6,912,510;
7,149,720; and 7,725,375) directed to the formulation and trading of risk
management contracts against alleged infringer CLS Bank International.The en banc court was 7-3 against patent eligibility of the method claims
and 5-5 as to the system claims. Since the lower court had ruled that the
system claims were ineligible, that judgment stands and all of Alice's claims
are ineligible unless the Supreme Court overturns the decision. Eight members
of the en banc court said that method and system or media claims should rise or
fall together, but not for the same reasons.