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Abstracts are nice in visual arts but not in patents. Before Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, about 30% of software patent applications were invalidated. After Alice, the statistic is up to about 80%. Another one just went down. In Clarilogic, Inc. FormFree Holdings Corp., the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the plaintiff to invalidate the defendant’s patent for credit reporting software. The Court ruled that the software "is directed to the abstract idea of gathering financial information of potential borrowers." The patent used computers to automate a fundamental financial information process without identifying any particular algorithm engine.
WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. A software developer should ask two questions before pursuing a patent. First, am I developing something that automates a task a human can do manually? Second, can any computer do what I’m automating without my software? If the answer is yes to both questions, then a patent will probably not be issued. Of course, to be safe, always get an opinion from a patent attorney whose area of emphasis is in the software patent space.