The U.S. Supreme Court has decided against reviewing a patent-related appeal by Miller Mendel Inc., a company specializing in background-check software. The appeal came after a contentious legal battle that saw the company’s patent invalidated via Section 101 of the Patent Act, which the courts deemed abstract under the two-step patent eligibility test established in a precedent-setting 2014 decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l.
Initially, an East Texas district court judge ruled against the company, and this decision was affirmed by a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Miller Mendel Inc. contended that the suspension of an appellate judge influenced the case’s outcome unfairly, but the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal. This decision effectively upholds the lower court’s judgment.
The company had filed suit against the small city of Anna, Texas, after the invalidation of their patent, arguing that concurrent legal issues involving a suspended judge had adversely affected the fairness of its proceedings. However, the Supreme Court’s refusal to reconsider the case reinforces the challenging environment for patent holders trying to navigate the complexities surrounding the eligibility tests under the Alice framework. For further details on this case, refer to the original report by Bloomberg Law.