In BrumField v. IBG LLC, [2022-1630] (Fed. Cir. 2024), the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court judgment that U.S. Patent Nos. 6,766,304 and 6,772,132 were valid and infringed, and U.S. Patent Nos. 7,676,411 and 7,813,996 were invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The patents describe assertedly improved graphical user interfaces for commodity trading and methods for placing trade orders using those interfaces.

The Federal Circuit agreed that the asserted claims of the ’411 and ’996 patents claim ineligible subject matter. The Court said that are directed to abstract ideas, and they add nothing (no inventive concept) that transforms them into claims to eligible subject matter. The asserted claims are directed to abstract ideas, and they add nothing (no inventive concept) that transforms them into claims to eligible subject matters.

The claims focus on the receipt and display of certain market information (bids and offers) in a manner that newly helps users see the information for use in making trades. But the combination of receipt and display of information, even of a particular type, and use of the information to engage in the funda-mental economic practice of placing an order, are abstract ideas.Further, nothing in the claims, understood in light of the speci-fication, calls for anything but preexisting computers and displays, programmed using techniques known to skilled artisans, to present the new arrangement of information.

With respect to the damage award, TT argued that the district court should have applied the extraterritoriality analysis articulated by the Supreme Court in WesternGeco, rather than more restrictive principles the district court drew from Power Integrations. The district court was reluctant to conclude, on its own, that WesternGeco displaces Power Integrations as the required framework of analysis for this case, involving 35 U.S.C. § 271(a) and a reasonable royalty. the Federal Circuit agreed with TT, but concluded that, even under the WesternGeco framework, the evidence offered by TT’s expert was properly excluded.