The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Alice v. CLS Bank on March 31st.
You can download/listen to the entire oral argument here: [Listen].
The transcript of the oral argument is available here: [Transcript].
The briefs are available here: [Briefs].
You can listen to the various portions of the oral argument here:
- ORAL ARGUMENT OF CARTER G. PHILLIPS, ESQ. on behalf of the Petitioners: [Listen]
- ORAL ARGUMENT OF MARK A. PERRY, ESQ. on behalf of the Respondents: [Listen]
- ORAL ARGUMENT OF DONALD B. VERRILLI, JR., ESQ. on behalf of the United States, as amicus curiae, supporting Respondents: [Listen]
- REBUTTAL ARGUMENT OF CARTER G. PHILLIPS, ESQ. on behalf of the Petitioners: [Listen].
For reference, one of the claims at issue is claim 26 from US Patent 7,725,375:
26. A data processing system to enable the exchange of an obligation between parties, the system comprising:
a communications controller,
a first party device, coupled to said communications controller,
a data storage unit having stored therein
(a) information about a first account for a first party, independent from a second account maintained by a first exchange institution, and
(b) information about a third account for a second party, independent from a fourth account maintained by a second exchange institution; and
a computer, coupled to said data storage unit and said communications controller, that is configured to
(a) receive a transaction from said first party device via said communications controller;
(b) electronically adjust said first account and said third account in order to effect an exchange obligation arising from said transaction between said first party and said second party after ensuring that said first party and/or said second party have adequate value in said first account and/or said third account, respectively; and
(c) generate an instruction to said first exchange institution and/or said second exchange institution to adjust said second account and/or said fourth account in accordance with the adjustment of said first account and/or said third account, wherein said instruction being an irrevocable, time invariant obligation placed on said first exchange institution and/or said second exchange institution.