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Intellectual Property

Jun. 11, 2026

Federal Circuit ruling significantly clarifies patent subject matter eligibility standard

The Federal Circuit's Constellation decision reinforces that abstract "optimization" claims are ineligible under Alice, while concrete, implementation-specific claims tied to a disclosed method can be patent-eligible.

Dariush G. Adli

President
ADLI Law Group

Phone: (213) 623-6547

Email: adli@adlilaw.com

Univ of Michigan Law Sch; Ann Arbor MI

See more...

Federal Circuit ruling significantly clarifies patent subject matter eligibility standard
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A recent ruling of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, which has plenary jurisdiction, has clarified the application of the standard for patent subject matter eligibility, i.e., whether the subject matter of the patent meets the threshold requirements for being considered for patent protection.

The decision in Constellation Designs, LLC v. LG Electronics Inc., 174 F.4th 888 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 28, 2026) is significant in that it denied subject matt...

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