Money Transfer Patents Ineligible Under 35 U.S.C. § 101​

The magistrate judge recommended granting defendant's motion to dismiss because the asserted claims of plaintiff’s money transfer system patents encompassed unpatentable subject matter and found that the claims were directed toward an abstract idea. "The summary of the invention in each patent describes the 'primary objective' of the invention -- 'to provide a method and system for sending money transfers such as cash between a sender and a remotely located recipient without a pre-established relationship, such as an account link, between the parties.'. . . [T]he claims differ in the types of hardware and the means used to transfer the funds. Importantly, however, the patents do not describe the type or configuration of the hardware as inventive. . . . The patents-in-suit describe a way in which funds can be simultaneously transferred between accounts without a pre-established link between those accounts. According to the patents, this is accomplished through an 'electronic escrow agent.' Whether the Court considers this concept 'fundamental' or not, it is impossible to distinguish it from other business methods found to be abstract."

Integrated Technological Systems, Inc. v. First Internet Bank of Indiana, 2-16-cv-00417 (TXED January 30, 2017, Order) (Payne, MJ)