Slashdot Mirror
US Supreme Court Skeptical of Business Method Patents
Trepidity writes "The US Supreme Court held oral argument Monday in Bilski, a business-methods patent case that might also have important implications for software patents (We have previously discussed the case several times). The tone of the argument appears to be good news, as the justices were very skeptical of the broad patentability claims. They even brought up a parade of absurd hypothetical patents quite similar to the ones Slashdotters tend to mention in these kinds of debates. Roberts surmised that 'buy low, sell high' might be a patentable business method, Sotomayor wondered if speed-dating could be patentable, Breyer questioned whether a professor could patent a lesson plan that kept his students from falling asleep, and Scalia brought up the old-time radio soap opera Lorenzo Jones, featuring a hare-brained inventor with delusions of getting rich." Patently O has good blow-by-blow coverage of the day's proceedings. Official argument transcripts will be up soon, they say.
The US, the worlds largest quasi capitalism. Why won't anybody understand that patents and capitalism don't mix?
Don't worry: Justice Thomas will change his mind if Justice Scalia changes his first.
I am officially gone from
Yeah well, he had a bad case of jungle fever.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Well, first they have to invent it, which means it has to be new and nonobvious
Really? Since when?
Yeah, that's the theory, but in reality it doesn't work that way.
Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
I'm probably going to get modded down for this, but...
http://outcampaign.org/