News

Justices Hear Patent Case on Protecting the Abstract

The New York Times
November 10, 2009

Related Professionals: Jakes, J. Michael

Media Mention

The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments for a case that could reshape the realm of what can be patented and whether to give protection to abstract business innovations. The case, Bilski and Warsaw v Kappos, concerns a business method patent that had been rejected out of hand by the U.S. PTO in 1997. The Court is to decide whether a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declaring that patents should be “tied to a particular machine or apparatus” or transform something “into a different state or thing,” should be upheld. Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw are represented in this matter by Finnegan partner Michael Jakes.