Thursday, June 24, 2010

Supreme Court Bilski Decision Watch - Coming Monday?

On Monday, the scales of justice will tip one way or the other in the Bilski business-method patent case. The Supreme Court is scheduled to wrap up its current term June 28th with only four outstanding decisions remaining. Barring an order for re-arguments in the case next term, the technology patent landscape may significantly shift with this decision. At stake are whether mental-process patents such as those currently held by technology companies, researchers, and other innovators are actually patentable. Since the State Street Bank case in 1998 removed the physical change or machine test in patents, a flood of patents have been issued for software, biomedical, and technology ideas. As discussed in my earlier blog post, upholding the lower court's decision to reinstate the physical change or machine test throws all existing and future technology patents into turmoil.



Keep your eyes on the Court's website for the latest decisions.

UPDATE: Apologies for the delay, here is the decision.


** I am an attorney with a firm in Atlanta, GA., contributing as a guest blogger on behalf of Errata Security. These are just my personal views and thoughts, not intended to reflect the views of anyone else nor intended to provide advice, legal or otherwise.

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