The company claimed that its system was effective, with a 4.84% average click-through rate in 2008 (in comparison to traditional advertisements).
[3] In 2012, the Supreme Court ordered the Federal Circuit to re-examine the case in the wake of several recent patent rulings on "abstract" concepts.
This opinion was also issued shortly after the America Invents Act ("AIA") went into effect, drastically changing the statutory landscape of US Patent Law.
On June 21, 2013, the Federal Circuit upheld its decision and ruled that Ultramercial's patents validly claimed methods of using advertising as a medium of exchange.
"[6] This reversal came in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, a benchmark case for doctrine-disruptive precedent defining patent eligible subject matter.