The Federal Circuit has issued four decisions since December 1, 2015, all of course invalidating the patents in suit, two per curiam (Cloud Satchel, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc. and Priceplay.com, Inc. v. AOL Advertising, Inc.) and two opinions in Vehicle Intelligence v. Mercedes-Benz USA, and Mortgage Grader, Inc. v. First Choice Loan Servs. Inc.. Vehicle Intelligence involved U.S. Patent 7,394,392, written by a patent attorney, on the use of expert systems to determine whether an equipment operator--e.g., the driver of a car--was impaired from intoxication, fatigue, physical disability, or other factors. The patent specification is very general, and does not actually describe the implementation of any specific expert system. The general idea appears to be using "screening modules" The screening modules can measure a characteristic of the equipment operator, such as a chemical in proximity to the equipment operator, electrical resistance of a…
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