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3 July 2020Big PharmaMuireann Bolger

Federal Circuit rules CardioNet patents 'abstract ideas'

US medical technology company  CardioNet has lost an appeal at the  US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit , which found its patents covered abstract concepts and therefore are invalid.

CardioNet claimed that InfoBionic had infringed two patents for systems and methods presenting heart data. The  US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in favour of InfoBionic on April 17, 2020.

The Federal Circuit upheld this decision on July 1, affirming the district court’s findings.

CardioNet claimed that its cardiac data analysis process falls under the category of  “inventive concepts sufficient to transform the claims into patent-eligible subject matter”. InfoBionic argued that the claims refer to “generic systems for performing conventional functions without specifying any inventive means for doing so”.

The district court found in favour of InfoBionic, agreeing that those claims “directed to collecting, analysing, and displaying data”, have repeatedly been held to be “abstract concepts”.

The court also rejected CardioNet’s claim that the technology in question was an “inventive concept” because it only implements “the traditional practice in the medical field of seeking a second opinion using conventional hardware”, a decision upheld by the Federal Circuit.

The Federal Circuit concluded: “Because the claim limitations, considered individually or collectively, amount only to implementations of abstract ideas using conventional technology, we conclude that the claims do not include an inventive concept sufficient to transform the claims into patent-eligible applications. We have considered CardioNet’s remaining arguments but find them unpersuasive”.

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