Federal Circuit Upholds Dismissal of AudienceScience Ad Patent Claims
Federal Circuit affirmed dismissal of AudienceScience's patent claims against Google over targeted ads.
Why it matters: Tech companies and IP counsel must watch patent litigation as courts increasingly scrutinize ad tech patents, affecting strategy and risk assessment.
- On September 25, 2026, the Federal Circuit affirmed dismissal of AudienceScience’s patent infringement claims against Google and YouTube.
- The court found the patents invalid under 35 U.S.C. §101, ruling they claim an abstract idea of targeting ads to maximize revenue.
- AudienceScience’s patents described systems combining webpage content, user browsing history, and ad performance data to select ads.
- The decision was nonprecedential but continues a judicial trend of skepticism toward targeted advertising patents.
On September 25, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal of patent infringement claims brought by the Receivership Estate of AudienceScience Inc. against Google LLC and YouTube LLC. In the court's ruling, the patents at issue were deemed ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §101 because they were directed at the abstract idea of targeting advertisements to internet users for revenue maximization.
The patented technology involved systems that selected advertisements by combining webpage content, user browsing history, and advertisement performance data to choose which ads to display. However, the court held that this claimed invention represented an abstract concept rather than a patentable technological advancement.
The opinion stated, "The asserted claims, as a whole, are directed to the abstract idea of targeting advertisements to maximize revenue generation." It further noted, "The claims explicitly recite selecting and displaying advertisements based on information collected about a user and advertisement performance, and so this abstract idea is not untethered from the claims." Despite directly addressing the claims, the court found them insufficient to overcome the statutory abstraction hurdle.
Importantly, this decision is nonprecedential, meaning it does not set binding precedent for future cases. Nonetheless, it aligns with the Federal Circuit's ongoing pattern of judicial caution toward software patents, especially those involving targeted advertising technologies. This continued skepticism emphasizes the challenges facing patent holders in the ad tech sector when asserting software-based intellectual property.
For tech companies and their intellectual property counsel, this ruling highlights the importance of carefully evaluating patent eligibility and the likelihood of sustaining patent claims related to digital advertising. As litigation over such patents continues, parties should anticipate heightened scrutiny from the courts.
By the numbers:
- September 25, 2026 — date of Federal Circuit ruling
- 35 U.S.C. §101 — statute under which patents were invalidated
- 24-1825 — Federal Circuit case number for AudienceScience v. Google