Fresh From the Bench: Latest Precedential Patent Case

CASE OF THE WEEK

Beteiro, LLC v. Draftkings Inc., Appeal Nos. 2022-2275, -2277, -2278, -2279, -2281, 2283 (Fed. Cir. June 21, 2024)

In its only precedential patent opinion this week, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of multiple infringement cases brought by appellant Beteiro on grounds that its remote gambling patents were directed to patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The Court’s opinion collected authority on “several features that are well-settled indicators of abstractness,” and rejected Beteiro’s attempts at “creative pleading” to raise a fact dispute as to patent eligibility.

Beteiro asserted four patents against multiple online gaming companies, with claims generally directed to the use of computers and GPS devices to determine whether a remote gambler’s bet is placed from a jurisdiction where such activity is lawful. At step one of the Alice/Mayo test for patent eligibility, the Federal Circuit readily agreed with the district court that the claims were “directed to the abstract idea of ‘exchanging information concerning a bet and allowing or disallowing the bet based on where the user is located.’”

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Editors:

Nika Aldrich, IP Litigation Group Leader, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Jason A. Wrubleski, Shareholder