Blue Coat: Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2018)

By Michael Borella -- The year's first substantive patent-eligibility decision from the Federal Circuit is a rare victory for the patentee. It is also further evidence that the outcome of an eligibility analysis may be more dependent upon how the analysis is carried out than the actual language of the claims under review. Finjan asserted several patents against Blue Coat in the Northern District of California. After trial, the jury found that Blue Coat infringed four of these patents, and awarded $39.5 million in damages. Then, the District Court held a bench trial to address Blue Coat's patent eligibility challenge...