Recent reports indicate that financial technology patents are on the rise. Some attorneys believe the reason is simply that there are more entrants into the fintech marketplace—not necessarily that individual companies are filing more applications.

While there is still value in protecting patents, industry observers are noticing a shift away from patent applications, as companies, particularly in the fintech and the broader technology space, rely more on trade secrets to maintain control of intellectual property.

One key reason for this apparent sea change, IP attorneys say, is the 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Alice v. CLS Bank International, which held that abstract ideas for software inventions need supporting elements that differentiate them from the abstract ideas themselves.