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June 29th, 2010
Bilski v. Kappos: The Supreme Court Declines to Prohibit Business Method Patents
Ending months of anticipation, yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court finally issued a ruling in Bilski v. Kappos, a business method patent case that, many hoped, would give the Court an opportunity to sharply limit these much maligned patents, or at least offer clear guidance on how business method patents are to be judged in the future. Unfortunately, the Court did neither one.
By way of background, Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw applied for a patent on methods for hedging risks for commodities trading. The Patent Office rejected their patent application as covering an abstract idea not eligible for patent protection, under § 101 of the Patent Act. Bilski appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The CAFC affirmed the Patent Office’s rejection of the patent application. The CAFC adopted a “machine-or-transformation test” to judge patentability: a patent applicant “may show that a process claim satisfies § 101 either by showing that his claim is tied to a particular machine, or by showing that his claim transforms an article.”
Bilski then appealed to the Supreme Court. EFF joined an amicus brief arguing that patents should only be granted for technological processes. Such technological processes advance ...