Google Nixes Internet Bot-Detection Patent in Appeals Court Win

Google LLC convinced the Federal Circuit to ax a claim from a Nobots LLC patent describing ways to determine if bots, as opposed to humans, are trying to access websites.

The court accepted Google’s interpretation of the term “acquiring interest data” from Nobots’ US Patent No. 9,595,008, and as Judge Richard G. Taranto explained in a Tuesday opinion, both companies agreed that, under that reading, a key claim from the patent was anticipated by an earlier invention and is therefore invalid.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board in November 2023 ruled that 18 of the patent’s 20 claims were ...