Synopsys, Inc. v. Mentor Graphics Corp.

by
Synopsys’s “Gregory Patents” relate to the logic circuit design process. In the early days, a designer was required to prepare a detailed schematic diagram that identified individual hardware components and the interconnections between them or a set of Boolean logic equations that specified the precise functionality of the design. A fabrication facility would then build the corresponding physical circuit. Over time, logic circuits became more complex; designers began to focus on the higher-level functionality of their designs and became less concerned with the detailed schematics or Boolean logic equations necessary to implement that functionality. The Gregory Patents describe “control flow graphs,” and “assignment conditions,” that provide a scheme to translate functional descriptions of logic circuits into hardware component descriptions of those circuits without requiring the designer to instantiate individual hardware components. In an infringement suit, the court invalidated certain claims under 35 U.S.C. 101, as directed to ineligible subject matter. The Federal Circuit affirmed. The claims are directed to the abstract idea of translating a functional description of a logic circuit into a hardware component description. This idea can be, and was, performed mentally or on paper by one of ordinary skill in the art. The claims do not require the involvement of a computer and cannot be characterized as an improvement in a computer as a tool. View "Synopsys, Inc. v. Mentor Graphics Corp." on Justia Law

Posted in: Patents

Comments are closed.