[News] Loads of Bilski Coverage: Software Patents Still at Risk in the US
Roy Schestowitz
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Accountants, consumer groups push for passage of legislation to eliminate tax strategy patents
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| While the Supreme Court prepares to hear a
| case that will determine if a way of
| thinking about a problem can be protected by
| a business methods patent, a group of
| accountants and consumer groups is hoping to
| eliminate tax strategy patents, a subset of
| the business methods class, using the
| legislative route.
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http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/10/26/daily63.html
Bilski CLE Options
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| On Monday, November 9, 2009, the Supreme
| Court will hear oral argument in In re
| Bilski, and two CLE providers plan to offer
| same day or next day coverage of the
| proceedings.
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http://www.patentdocs.org/2009/11/bilski-cle-options.html
'Bilski': Software firms eye key patent case at Supreme Court
http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/blogpost/6369834/
Patentable Subject Matter After 'Bilski'
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| The juxtaposition of Bilski and Prometheus
| demonstrates the far reaching implications
| of the question of what is patentable
| subject matter for a diverse set of
| industries.
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U.S. top court to hear business method patent case
http://www.reuters.com/article/deborahCohen/idUSTRE5A545420091106
Supreme Court skeptical of patents for hedging
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| But if the court tosses out the rule that
| business method innovations that involve a
| machine or transformation can be patented,
| what new rule should take its place? "How do
| we limit it (patentability) to something
| reasonable?" asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
| A decision is expected by the end of June.
|
| John Whealan, of George Washington
| University Law School, said, "Eight justices
| talked. They all seemed not to agree with
| the plaintiff's argument."
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http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE5A857L20091109
Justices Hear Patent Case on Protecting the Abstract
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| The justices pressed J. Michael Jakes, a
| lawyer for Mr. Bilski and Mr. Warsaw, with
| hypothetical patents that they clearly found
| ludicrous. Justice Antonin Scalia suggested
| that under Mr. Jakes’s argument, a patent
| for “somebody who writes a book on how to
| win friends and influence people” might be
| allowed, while Justice Sotomayor suggested
| “the method of speed dating.”
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/business/10patent.html
Supreme Court Hears Bilski v. Kappos
Incoming
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| Computer whiz Justice Stephen G. Breyer
| chimed in. "All you do is just have a set of
| instructions for saying how to set a
| computer to do it. Anyone can do that. Now,
| it's a machine."
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http://www.patenthawk.com/blog/2009/11/incoming.html
Lawyers Have Skewed Intuitions about Software Patents
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| Stewart claimed that loading software on a
| computer transforms it into a new machine by
| giving a computer “functionality it didn’t
| have before.” This argument doesn’t
| withstand close scrutiny. Obviously, it’s
| true that loading software on a computer
| gives it functionality it didn’t have
| before. But this is little different than
| saying that setting my alarm clock causes it
| to perform a function—waking me up at a
| particular time—that it wouldn’t have done
| otherwise. We don’t say a set alarm clock is
| a different machine than an unset alarm
| clock. It’s the same machine with different
| settings. Programming a computer is exactly
| like setting an alarm clock except that the
| computer can handle dramatically more
| complex instructions. If setting your alarm
| clock doesn’t create a new machine, then
| neither does installing Microsoft Word on
| your computer.
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http://timothyblee.com/?p=1646
Can You Patent a Cat and a Laser Pointer?
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| In 2007 alone, the Patent Office received
| over 10,000 applications for business-method
| patents. The current backlog is over 600,000
| applications.
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http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2009/11/09/can-you-patent-cat-and-laser-pointer
Court Is Cool to Patents on Methods
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| Justice Antonin Scalia said patents are
| given to inventions that are manufactured or
| produced by workmen, "not someone who writes
| a book about how to win friends and
| influence people."
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125777966165638699.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories
Trilateral Patent Offices To Launch New Work Sharing Projects
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| The Patent Prosecution Highway, an
| information sharing network between certain
| patent offices, has recently had its
| potential expanded thanks to a new agreement
| between two of the “trilateral” IP offices,
| according to the group’s site [pdf]. In
| addition to the EPO, the trilateral group
| includes the Japan Patent Office and the
| United States Patent and Trademark Office.
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Recent:
Keith Bergelt: The Case for Market Based Patent Reform
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| In the wake of the financial crisis and its
| attendant repercussions across the global
| economy, the U.S. Congress stands poised to
| address the issue of patent reform. Much
| debated and long anticipated, patent reform
| legislation is back under consideration with
| the bill possibly coming up for vote, prior
| to the end of 2009. Under the stewardship of
| a set of legislators well sensitized to the
| salient issues and with the thoughtful
| counsel of David Kappos, President Obama’s
| business savvy head of the U.S. Patent and
| Trademark Office (USPTO), the stars are
| aligning to usher in legislation that
| promises to offer significant advances in an
| arena that has been overdue for reform.
|
| [...]
|
| OIN has created a model that can be
| replicated across many industries. OIN, a
| defensive patent pool established by IBM,
| NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat, and Sony to
| keep the Linux Community free of patent-
| related issues and ensure freedom of action,
| launched Linux Defenders in December 2008.
| The program and associated website
| (www.linuxdefenders.org) enables the
| contribution of prior art through its
| portal. For already granted patents, Linux
| Defenders’ Post Issue Peer to Patent program
| solicits prior art that can be used to
| support requests for patent reexam. The
| third element of the Linux Defenders
| platform highlights the difference between
| patents and defensive publications and leads
| inventors through a process that allows
| inventions to be codified and made
| accessible to patent examiners as an
| effective form of prior art.
|
| [...]
|
| The foregoing dynamics underscore the need
| for legislative, regulatory and judicial
| patent reform coupled with market-led patent
| reform. Absent a joint market, industry and
| government effort that is comprehensive and
| seeks to resolve all of the challenges posed
| by today’s patent system, the result of
| legislative reform will be suboptimal.
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/33656799
An Explanation of Computation Theory for Lawyers
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| If I had to describe the fairly universal
| geek reaction to the oral argument at the US
| Supreme Court on Monday in In Re Bilski, I
| would have to say it's a worry that some of
| the participants didn't seem to understand
| computers or the tech behind software very
| well.
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http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091111151305785
Supremes wrestle with business method, software patents
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| The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in
| the Bilski case on Monday. The wide-ranging
| discussion included significant discussion
| about the patentability of software and also
| touched on the patentability of horse-
| training and speed-dating methods.
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http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/11/supremes-wrestle-with-business-method-software-patents.ars
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