⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Federal Circuit hears Yieldmo versus Teads, a patent dispute over interactive online advertisements. Yieldmo sued Teads for allegedly infringing four patents covering advertisements that respond to webpage activity. The claimed methods link scrolling to the display of different image or video frames: scrolling one way advances them, and scrolling back reverses them. The district court dismissed the lawsuit before trial, finding the asserted claims directed to an abstract advertising idea without an inventive concept. Yieldmo is appealing that ruling. A patent’s claims define the invention for which protection is sought; its specification describes the invention and how it works. Section one oh one sets out patent-eligible subject matter, but courts exclude abstract ideas. Under the Supreme Court’s Alice test, courts first ask whether the claims are directed to an abstract idea. If so, they ask whether additional elements, individually or together, supply an inventive concept beyond that idea. Yieldmo will argue that its scrolling-controlled image player provides a specific technical improvement, not merely a new advertising strategy. Teads will contend that the claims describe desired results using conventional computer functions rather than a technical solution.

Yieldmo, Inc. v. Teads, Inc. (No. 25-2012) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, argued October 5, 2026.