EFF Asks Supreme Court to Protect FOSS Innovation

euice writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation supports KSR International in a fight against obvious patents. They filed an amicus brief (PDF) yesterday, a short summary is on their news page (August, 23). FTA: 'The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn a dangerous patent law ruling that could pose a serious threat to Free and Open Source Software projects. [...] In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its own 'suggestion test' as the main method for determining when a patent should be found obvious over knowledge in the public domain. Under this test, even the most obvious incremental advances and add-ons can be patented unless the Patent Office or a defendant in court produces a document that shows someone else suggested it prior to the patent being filed. [...] In its amicus brief filed Tuesday, EFF shows how this 'suggestion test' has led to a massive surge in bogus patenting, especially in software. These bad patents then become weapons against legitimate innovators — especially those working on Free and Open Source Software projects.' For me, this sounds like a really good shot in the right direction."