FSF: Software patents after Bilski
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Started by: ggiedkeggiedke
Date: 30 Jun 2010 17:15
Number of posts: 1
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Summary:
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday in the long awaited Bilski case [...]. As such, the decision disappoints, with the justices providing a narrow ruling and rejecting Bilski's business method patent. The software patent mess that the US finds itself in today is a product of the US judicial system and not Congress. It is therefore all the more disappointing that the Supreme Court failed to use Bilski to clean house and remove software from the scope of patentability. On a positive note, yesterday's majority opinion does stress past decisions in Benson, Flook and Diehr that clearly limit the patenting of software. We can read that as a larger rejection of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's State Street ruling that gave us the "useful, concrete and tangible result" test that led to the widespread patenting of software. Much depends on how the United States Patent and Trademark Office implements the court's ruling.
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