By Rich Christiansen, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP ( January 19, 2017, 12:54 PM EST) -- In retrospect, the patent community should have been ready for a decision like the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Internatioanl,[1] but based on the yearly increases[2] in patent applications designated as business methods in Class 705[3] leading up to the decision, this was not the case. And so the Alice decision caused at least temporary tumult and despair in the patent community. However, in spite of this significant shift in the law, transactions involving patent assets (both patent and/or patent applications) potentially affected by this decision continued uninterrupted. In many instances, these transactions and the evaluation of patent assets included in those transactions continued as if the Alice decision had never occurred....