EFF asks Federal Circuit not to make it harder to challenge software patents
EFF, together with the R Street Institute, has filed an amicus brief [PDF] urging the Federal Circuit to rehear the Berkheimer appeal en banc. This means that all the active judges of the appeals court would review the decision. We argue that the panel’s decision is both wrong on the law and bad policy. The panel’s decision disregards long-standing Supreme Court and Federal Circuit law that makes it the judge’s role to construe patents. On policy, we describe how early Alice rulings have helped end many of the most abusive patent trolling campaigns.
