There are many ways to obtain intellectual property protection for software creations. Many keep the software code confidential and maintain the software as a trade secret. Others seek patent protection on the software, which discloses the higher-level concepts surrounding the software without explicitly publishing the source code. Recent changes in patent law have changed what types of software inventions are patentable and the requirements for obtaining such patents. However, the evolution of the law has been ongoing for quite some time. The Supreme Court has struggled to define what types of software inventions are patentable in a string of cases over the past fifty years. The most recent case, Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Intern., 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014), held that an invention directed to an abstract idea is not patentable simply because it is implemented on a general purpose computer. In particular, Alice and its progeny held that a software invention is not…
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