Federal Circuit Appeals Court Limits Business-Method Patents

Zordak writes "The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has just issued its much-anticipated opinion in In Re Bilski [PDF]. This was a re-visit of the State Street issue of what constitutes patentable subject matter (including whether software and business methods are patentable). In summary, the court has affirmed and strengthened the 'machine-or-transformation' test, upholding the patent office's rejection of claims on a method for hedging risk in the field of commodities trading. Although the court refused to exclude software patents categorically, it is likely that the reasoning of this decision will be used to reject many software patents (note that some of the dissenting judges would have completely overturned State Street and tossed out all software and business method patents). Although not as sweeping as some had hoped for, it is certain that this decision, along with the Supreme Court's KSR decision last year, will lay a difficult mine field for those who want to patent software and business methods."

Comments

Re: I'm a Democrat ..

[Warll]

$10 he's a free-loader .. give a man $700 billion he's a captain of industry ...

Those two are not mutual exclusive...

Re:Champagne bottles popping at Groklaw

[postbigbang]

We agree on 35 USC 101.

Then there's:The Congress shall have power ... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

And there's the perversion in IP law that SCOTUS might have to deal with. That's what I fear: new legislation, and the IP battle of titans to get software patents more deeply entrenched, or other business 'theory' concepts established in any way.