By Andrew Karpan (March 7, 2022, 8:54 PM EST) — A California federal judge has concluded that the camera technology GoPro Inc. was accused of infringing cannot be protected by patent law, a ruling that came down a month after the judge vowed to take a deep dive into the “abyss” of patent eligibility jurisprudence.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick III had taken his time to issue a ruling on the patents in an infringement fight launched by Contour IP Holding LLC, which has brought suits in Utah, Delaware and California courts against GoPro since at least 2015. Around then, Contour had purchased a license to sell patents that covered cameras developed by a…