CELLSPIN SOFT, INC. v. FITBIT, INC., decided June 25, 2019, Statutory Subject Matter

U.S. Patent Nos. 8,738,794; 8,892,752; 9,258,698; and 9,749,847 are directed to connecting a camera to a mobile device to publish captured content to a website (pages 4-10). The dispute is over statutory subject matter in a motion to dismiss context. For step one, the claims are directed to the idea of capturing and transmitting data from one device to another so are abstract as being collection, transfer, and publishing of data (page 16). Reciting the mobile device as internet capable merely recites a well known computing device (pages 16-17). For step two, the separation of capturing and publishing between devices may be inventive (pages 17-18). The specification discusses this separation and indicates benefits (page 18). The ordered combination and use of HTTP are alleged to be inventive (page 19). For a motion to dismiss, the claims may include an inventive concept (pages 20-21). If inventive, the claims use the devices to do more than simply carry out the abstract idea (page 22).

Hindsight: Reciting how, in the form of details other than the end goal, to achieve the purpose implemented by a computing device may provide statutory subject matter. By claiming more narrowly than capturing data, transferring data, and publishing data, the claims are more likely directed to statutory subject matter.