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High Court Relaxes Limits on Patents

The Washington Post
June 29, 2010

Related Professionals: Jakes, J. Michael

Media Mention

The Supreme Court on Monday loosened the limits on the kinds of inventions that are eligible for patent protection in a case that was closely watched for its impacts on innovation. At issue was a bid by two inventors, Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw, to patent a business method for hedging risk in buying energy. The high court unanimously rejected the inventors' claim, deeming their innovation too abstract to qualify for patent protection. But in doing so, it also rejected a lower court's reasoning that only invention involving machinery of physical "transformations" are eligible for patents."I'm disappointed for our client," said J. Michael Jakes, partner at Finnegan and attorney for Bilski and Warsaw. "But, more broadly it's a very good ruling for the patent system. [It] should encourage people that our patent system remains open to all types of inventions."