Money Is Software Now: Payments, Trading Systems, and the Intellectual Property Inside Financial Technology
By Casey Scott McKay ·
Financial technology occupies the least hospitable corner of the patent system and one of the most contested corners of data licensing, which is an unusual combination. This article explains why the eligibility doctrine falls hardest on exactly the inventions this sector produces, and what claim drafting survives it. It works through the market data licences that govern every trading system and that almost nobody in the building has read, the trading and pricing models that are protected by secrecy rather than by registration, and the open banking interfaces that convert a competitive moat into a regulated obligation. It closes on the customer transaction data that is simultaneously the sector's most valuable asset and the one it has least freedom to exploit.
IP and Technology > Information Technology | Article | Published 2 November 2023 - Updated 26 August 2025 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. Financial technology occupies the least hospitable corner of the patent system and one of the most contested corners of data licensing. This article explains why eligibility doctrine falls hardest on exactly the inventions this sector produces and what claim drafting survives it, works through the market data licences that govern every trading system and that nobody has read, the models protected by secrecy rather than registration, and the open banking interfaces that convert a moat into a regulated obligation. It closes on the transaction data that is the sector's most valuable asset and the one it has least freedom to exploit.
Keywords: fintech IP · payments technology · Alice eligibility · business method patents · market data licensing · trading algorithms · model governance · open banking APIs · customer data rights · core banking systems · transaction data · regulatory technology · financial software copyright · exchange data terms · vendor risk
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