The 2013-14 term of the Supreme Court ended with multiple decisions on intellectual property issues.

Over the past few months, the Court issued a number of patent law related opinions covering ground from claim definiteness (Nautilus) to the exceptional case standard in Section 285 (Octane, Highmark) to multiactor infringement (Limelight) to the ever-present patentable subject matter case (Alice). Three of these opinions (Alice, Highmark, and Limelight) resolved deep intra-circuit splits at the Federal Circuit. All together, this term profoundly altered the landscape of patent law jurisprudence.

One of the most high-profile decisions was Alice. In that decision, the high court held that a banking-related business method is drawn to a patent-ineligible abstract idea, and it cannot be made patent eligible simply by adding implementation on a general purpose computer.

The other high-profile decision was Aereo, a copyright decision.

In a 6-3 decision, the court held that Aereo publicly performs television programs when it transmits those programs.