The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently denied Google’s request to initiate a covered business method review of SimpleAir’s push notification software patent.
Google asserted that SimpleAir, a self-described “technology licensing company,” had attempted to patent the abstract idea of “packaging and routing information as part of a subscription service.” To support this argument, Google offered an analogy comparing push notifications to a mail delivery service, which the PTAB rejected because it was “not directed to the specific language of the challenged claims.”
The Board noted that “every method can be generalized to the point of abstraction if the claim language is ignored.” Such an opinion suggests that, if a petition does not refer to the actual language and scope of the claims, the PTAB may not find it persuasive.
