Unlike physical patents, software patents must claim a specific technical method or process — not a general idea. Courts have increasingly required that software patents show an inventive concept beyond abstract algorithms. The patents below represent significant advances in how software systems actually work.
Software Patents
18 patentsUS 12324579 · 2025 · CILAG GMBH INT
Surgical Stapler Battery Health Check During Operation
US 11918209 · 2024 · CILAG GMBH INT
Real-Time Surgical Instrument Status on Live Video During Operations
US 7657849 · 2010 · Apple Inc
How the iPhone's Slide-to-Unlock Gesture Worked
US 4405829 · 1983 · Massachusetts Institute of Technology
How RSA Public-Key Encryption Secures Digital Messages
US 7479949 · 2009 · Apple Inc
How Touchscreens Tell the Difference Between Your Finger Gestures
US 5347632 · 1994 · Prodigy Services Co
How Early Online Services Delivered Applications Using Networked 'Objects'
US 10452978 · 2019 · Google LLC
How AI Models Understand Language Using Self-Attention
US 6285999 · 2001 · Leland Stanford Junior University
How Websites Get Ranked by Who Links to Them
US 7469381 · 2008 · Apple Inc
How Touchscreens Make Documents Bounce When You Scroll Too Far
US 5960411 · 1999 · Amazon com Inc
How Amazon's One-Click Online Ordering System Works
US 4063220 · 1977 · Xerox Corp
How Computers Share a Network Cable Without Crashing
US 5825352 · 1998 · Logitech Inc
How Touchpads Detect Two Fingers for Clicks and Drags
US 4558302 · 1985 · Sperry Corp
How Computers Shrink Data by Finding Repeated Patterns
US 6266649 · 2001 · Amazon com Inc
Amazon's 'Customers Also Bought' — The Recommendation Algorithm That Changed Retail
US 5191573 · 1993
How to Buy and Download Digital Music or Movies Over a Phone Line
US 4136359 · 1979 · Apple Computer Inc
The Apple II — The First Personal Computer That Came With Color
US 3789410 · 1974 · US Department of Navy
Measuring Distance to a Radio Emitter from a Moving Vehicle
US TEST001 · Apple Inc