patent Archives

Tech Optimizer

March 19, 2026

Federal Circuit Finds that Antivirus Software is Abstract and Remands for Alice, Step Two

Columbia University faced a setback in its patent dispute with Gen Digital Inc. regarding U.S. Patents 8,074,115 and 8,601,322, which relate to an innovative virus detection method developed in the early 2000s. The method involved evaluating the behavior of suspicious code using an emulator and a model of expected behavior derived from data across interconnected computers. Columbia initiated legal proceedings in 2013, and after various developments, a jury awarded Columbia over million in royalties for willful infringement in 2022. However, the Federal Circuit ruled that the patent claims were not sufficiently specific and remanded the case for further examination of whether the claims could constitute an inventive concept. The ruling emphasized that patent eligibility is determined by the precise language of the claims.

Tech Optimizer

March 11, 2026

CAFC Reverses District Court’s Finding of Eligibility for Columbia Antivirus Software Claims

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversed a district court's judgment that had deemed Columbia University's patent claims eligible for protection in the case of The Trustees of Columbia University of the City of New York v. Gen Digital Inc. The CAFC concluded that Columbia's claims, related to virus protection, were directed toward an abstract idea and did not introduce a novel method or enhance existing methodologies. The court vacated a contempt order against the defendant’s legal team, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, determining that the district court's Disclosure Order regarding potential conflicts of interest was invalid. The CAFC also indicated that one argument from Columbia regarding the "model of function calls" should be examined upon remand, as it may constitute an inventive concept. The court upheld the district court's interpretation of the "emulator" and denied judgment as a matter of law for Norton regarding willful infringement, while reversing the enhanced damages award and instructing a reassessment of attorneys’ fees.

Tech Optimizer

January 27, 2026

Expired Oracle Patent Clears Path For Faster Sorting In MySQL And PostgreSQL – Open Source For You

The expiration of Oracle's patent US7680791B2 has made the Orasort sorting algorithm, which offers a claimed 5× performance improvement, available in the public domain for open-source databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL. Developed by Mark Callaghan, Orasort enhances sorting workloads with similar keys and incorporates optimizations such as skipping repeated comparisons, adaptively switching sorting methods, caching key substrings, prefetching data, and producing partial results. The algorithm has shown to be approximately five times faster than previous sorting methods used by Oracle. The open-source community is actively exploring its integration into various database engines, with early experimentation underway using programming languages like Python, C, and C++.

AppWizard

October 30, 2025

Stand up and yell ‘PC Gamer!’ if you recognize the videogame patent diagrams in our latest quiz!

PC Gamer has created a collection of gaming trivia quizzes that cover various topics, including health bars, in-game currencies, and patch notes. A new quiz format involves presenting participants with a diagram from a video game patent and asking a related multiple-choice question. A Hint button is available to help eliminate one incorrect answer.

AppWizard

October 10, 2025

Valve is reportedly mass producing the Steam Frame VR headset, claims new report

Mass production of the Steam Frame, Valve's new VR headset, is currently underway in China, with plans for a launch by the end of this year. Estimates suggest that Valve is preparing to release between 400,000 and 600,000 units annually. The headset, previously known as Valve Deckard, may operate independently without the need for a PC, positioning it against the Meta Quest 3. While details are limited and Valve has not officially confirmed the headset's existence, the anticipated release could occur before the holiday season.

AppWizard

September 19, 2025

Nintendo reportedly gets even more obnoxious about patent law by taking a ‘mods aren’t real games’ stance against a Dark Souls 3 mod that could invalidate its Palworld lawsuit

Nintendo initiated a patent lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, and has intensified its focus on intellectual property enforcement. Pocketpair's defense strategy involves challenging Nintendo's patent claims by referencing prior art found in mods, which could potentially invalidate Nintendo's patent. However, Nintendo argues that mods do not qualify as prior art because they are not considered "real games." Under Japanese patent law, prior art includes inventions that are publicly known or worked prior to the patent application. Nintendo has a history of legal actions against modders, including issuing DMCA notices that resulted in the removal of content and the shutdown of multiplayer modding projects.