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What Bilski Means For Biotech Patents
eldavojohn writes "Patents aren't just a software thing, and while Bilski's dismissal didn't shake the ground for software, it's certainly making waves in the biotech community. You may recall Prometheus v. Mayo, in which doctors fought a biotech startup's methodology patents. Well, medical method patents are now being reconsidered by order of the Supreme Court. Stocks of biotech startups jumped as this news broke, but questions remain on how the lower Federal Circuit court will rule when it reconsiders these cases of medical testing. It's clear the Supreme Court has 'ruled that judges should be more flexible in determining if methods, rather than objects, are eligible for patents, citing emerging technologies such as medical testing.' So Bilski may result in dire news for medical methods and testing patents."
I read the entire transcript and the sense that I got was that the justices were testing the soundness of the arguments by throwing out absurd scenarios that stretch credibility in order to see whether or not it is applicable.
OK, let's say you're the judge, and you don't think your scenario is absurd. But you have to render an opinion in a court on the surface of the moon with its attendant jurisdictional and respiratory issues in which the plaintiff may not have standing- she may be kneeling, and administering oral sex to justices under the bench. Meanwhile defendants are traveling by at almost the speed of light and experiencing time dilation that interferes with scheduled court appearances. Upon completion of a happy ending, shall defendants be cited for failing to appear with summary judgment granted to the plaintiff, or given the indeterminate simultaneity dependent upon which party's reference frame is considered, toss the case back to lower courts on Earth requiring clarification on whether the court's proper frame must be used? Would the same findings hold if the ending were say, not happy?