Third Time’s the Charm: Turner Boyd Wins Summary Judgment of Patent Invalidity

On December 15, 2017, Turner Boyd secured a victory for Truven Health Analytics through a summary judgment ruling that invalidated U.S. Patent No. 8,768,726 as patent-ineligible subject matter. The victory came just a month before trial and in the face of a $12 million jury verdict that the plaintiff had been awarded against another defendant.The asserted patent claims related to physician efficiency calculation. Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California invalidated those claims after the parties filed cross summary judgment motions of invalidity and validity on section 101 grounds. Judge Illston, in a thoughtful and well-reasoned 22-page Order, held that the asserted claims “are directed to the abstract idea of collecting, organizing and analyzing medical claims data to calculate physician efficiency scores” and that “the asserted claims do not contain an inventive concept that transforms the abstract nature of the claims into a patent-eligible application.” Click here to read the rest of the order.Truven previously brought two motions to invalidate the ’726 Patent under 35 U.S.C. section 101. The Court denied those motions with leave for Truven to re-raise the section 101 issue following discovery and further clarification of the section 101 jurisprudence by the Federal Circuit and other district courts in the wake of Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014). The third time’s the charm: Turner Boyd successfully secured an invalidity victory for Truven, just in time for the holidays.Turner Boyd’s team was led by partner Karen Boyd and included associates Keeley Vega, Louis Wai, and Josh Rayes, and paralegal Jennie Newman.