Section 101 and Alice prevent people from obtaining patents on abstract ideas. Overhauling, or even tweaking, this framework would create confusion for innovators and restrict the flexibility needed to accommodate future innovation.
Bitmovin knows good patents are valuable to innovators, and knows a very weak patent when it sees one—and was able to avoid an expensive lawsuit over a bad patent thanks to Alice.
Learn More >Playsaurus avoided litigation threatened by a patent troll by pointing out that, after Alice, you cannot patent buying and using tokens in a video game.
Learn More >Cloudflare used 101 and Alice to get a troll case dismissed early, so it could continue offering and improving its web optimization and security services.
Learn More >Startups are Soaring Across the Nation
Since the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Alice v. CLS Bank, which confirmed that patents can be issued for actual inventions but not for abstract ideas, startups have thrived, venture capital investment has reached an all-time high, and startup hubs are spreading across the country.
Venture capital investment has risen steadily since Alice was decided in 2014. Between 2014 and 2018, investment grew 84%, and in 2018 VC investors deployed an all-time high of approximately $131 billion in the U.S. This growth dispels any concern that Alice reduced VC funding or harmed innovation.
Startups are thriving not just in Silicon Valley but across the country. Between 2014 and 2016, the years immediately following Alice, areas outside the top 35 metro areas accounted for almost half of net new startups.
