Bilski Decision on Business Method Patents Expected Today
Posted on Mon, Jun 28, 2010
Today is the final day of the Supreme Court's term, which means we should be hearing about the decision of Bilski v. Kappos. (Unless, of course, they push it until next term.) The issue at hand is the patentability of business methods.
SCOTUS will be live-blogging the issuance of decisions starting at 9:45a ET. Until then, here are four posts about Bilski v. Kappos to keep you busy:
IPWatchdog.com - Bilski and Software Patents: A Programmers Perspective
Unlike many of the visitors and contributors on this site, I am not a lawyer. I am a programmer who found this blog while chasing links across the Internet looking for information on software patents and what has now become one of the most anticipated Supreme Court decisions ever; Bilski v. Kappos. That was almost eight months ago at a time when I held what is probably a common view of software patents among programmers. Specifically, that they are immoral, unfair, and restrictive to innovation and creativity. I have since found that things are not as black and white as they appear and I'd like to share with you the problems as I see them, from a programmer's point of view. Read more...
Ruminations from IP Strategist - Happy Bilski Day!
As with probably all patent folks, I am looking forward to seeing what The Supremes have to say about business method patents. No matter what happens, we can be assured that the press will be full of all kinds of statements like “the end is near” for patents. In reality, Bilski is not a very big deal, and effects only patents that are poorly written or that cover inventions that really shouldn’t be patentable. Read more...
SCOTUS - A Preview of Big Monday
And then there’s Bilski, the case that will consider the validity of business-method patents. These sorts of patents — Amazon’s one-click checkout and Priceline’s reverse auction represent two examples — have been kicking around for over a decade, ever since the Federal Circuit’s State Street decision, which expanded the scope of processes that could be patented. The high court must now determine whether such swaths of modern business activity deserve patent protections (thereby opening the door to infringement lawsuits) or belong in the public domain (depriving their inventors of monopoly profits.) Read more...
Patently O - Bilski, Kenny Rogers, and Supreme Court Rule 46
Kenny Rogers’ hit song The Gambler provides some wise strategic advice, valid not only in cards and but also in law and perhaps in life generally: If “fold ’em” is an option, sometimes it is the best one. Supreme Court Rule 46 on “Dismissing Cases” provides petitioners in Supreme Court cases the opportunity to “fold ’em,” and in the days remaining before the Supreme Court delivers an opinion in its Bilski v. Kappos case, the most puzzling question in the case has become this: Why won’t the petititoners in Bilski fold? Read more...