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If you have been hearing the phrase “quantum computing” more and more lately and wondering what it actually means for your patent practice, you are not alone. Quantum computing is a subset of quantum technology, which is one of the most rapidly developing fields in science and engineering today. Quantum technology spans sensing, communication, and computing technologies, with quantum computing being the fastest growing quantum technology.

On February 6, 2026, the Federal Circuit affirmed summary judgment of invalidity under 35 U.S.C. § 101 for all asserted claims across six patents in Innovaport LLC v. Target Corp., No. 24-1545 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 6, 2026) (nonprecedential). The patents claimed systems and methods for providing product location information within a retail store: receiving a customer’s query, searching a database containing product locations and related information, and returning results that included cross-referenced product suggestions. The court found the claims directed to the abstract idea of “collecting, analyzing, retrieving, and displaying information” at Alice step one, then concluded at step two that the additional elements added no “inventive concept.” 

A practical way to refill it: inventions.md and fast (detailed!) provisional filings. 

In brief: 

Agentic coding collapses the time and capital advantages that used to protect early-stage software companies. When competitors can reach feature parity in days, “shipping faster” stops being a moat and becomes table stakes. 

One of the few levers you can pull early is intellectual property, but only if you capture inventions while you build. 

The simplest workflow I’ve found: instruct your coding agent to surface patentable technical ideas and log them in an inventions.md file, then file provisional patent applications quickly on the ideas that survive a rough patentability screen.