1. Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International: Procedural history

A divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had reversed the district court, but the panel opinion was subsequently vacated in a rehearing en banc that affirmed the district court. (CLS Bank Int'l v. Alice Corp. Pty, supra, 717 F.3d, at 1273.) The Federal Court cited Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc.: "[A] court must first 'identif[y] the abstract idea represented in the claim,' and then determine 'whether the balance of the claim adds "significantly more."’" (CLS Bank Int'l v. Alice Corp. Pty, supra, 717 F.3d, at 1286, quoting Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (2012) 132 S.Ct. 1289, 1294 [182 L. Ed. 2d 321].) In this case, Alice's technique for hedging investment risks through a third-party intermediary "added nothing of substance to that abstract idea." (Ibid.)

2. Test for patentability of abstract ideas: implicit exception to exclusion