Court’s Decision on Sales Tax Patents
The courts have handed down some important rulings on software patents recently. In one high-profile case, the patent awarded to Alice Corp two decades ago was deleted because the court agreed that Alice Corp’s software simply took an abstract idea that had been around for a long time and figured out a way to make it work on a computer. That’s like making it possible to, say, play charades via computer and trying to patent that.
As the JournalStar put it in a news article, “The decision makes clear that to obtain a patent, a company’s idea must actually improve how a computer functions or make other technical advancements. Law360 put it even more succinctly, saying, “Abstract ideas implemented using a computer are not eligible for a patent.” This follows an earlier ruling put into the form of law by Congress in 2011: For purposes of evaluating an invention under section 102 or 103 of title 35, United States Code, any strategy for reducing, avoiding, or deferring tax liability, whether known or unknown at the time of the invention or application for patent, shall be deemed insufficient to differentiate a claimed invention from the prior art. In other words, tax strategies are abstract ideas that can’t be patented.
This makes it even more significant that SalesTaxDataLINK’s sales tax software will be awarded a patent within the next few weeks. This fact demonstrates that SalesTaxDataLINK software is completely different from other types of sales and use tax software. We offer an unparalleled degree of clarity and accountability that allows you to find errors in the ERP, right down to the invoice level. Errors in the tax engine or the invoicing system can’t be hidden from you, and you don’t have to spend hours combing by hand through the data. SalesTaxDataLINK finds variances fast and helps you fix them. So you’re right. And we all like to be right. Contact us now and let us give you a free evaluation of the software. We’ll show it to you in real time, with your data, so you know exactly what it’ll do for you. It’s so different, it’s patent pending.
