Location Based Servs., LLC v. Niantic, Inc.

In the summer of 2016 it was common to see children and adults walking while craning their necks down to their phones in an effort to catch Pokémon or reach Pokéstops. This patent infringement suit goes to the core of the mapping technology used in Pokémon GO. Plaintiff Location Based Services, LLC (LBS) asserts 44 separate claims spread out over four map-related patents that are allegedly infringed at apparently every instant a user is playing Pokémon GO.

Defendant Niantic, Inc. is the developer of Pokémon GO, and Niantic moves to dismiss LBS's complaint for patent infringement under the two-part test developed in Alice Corp. Pty. v. CLS Bank Int'l , --- U.S. ----, 134 S.Ct. 2347 , 189 L.Ed. 2d 296 (2014). The two-part test considers first whether a patent is directed to an abstract idea, and if so, whether it discloses an inventive concept. If a patent is directed to an abstract idea and does not disclose an inventive concept, the patent is deemed invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 . Niantic's argument is that the four patents are directed to the abstract idea of collecting, analyzing, and displaying information on a map. Niantic further argues that the patents disclose no inventive…