Attorneys give their take on what they believe to be the most important patent decisions over the past ten years in this Boston Business Journal article. Several attorneys agreed that patent law has undergone important changes during the past decade. They said that U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinions have altered the rights and expectations that patent holders have traditionally held. Several significant cases were mentioned, including Bilski vs. Kappos which rejected the “machine or transformation test,” as well as the 2007 Seagate case, which Finnegan partner Denise DeFranco commented on. DeFranco states that the Seagate case, which says that companies do not need to get written opinion to successful defend against a charge of willful infringement, has impacted how companies think about their patents and the protection they afford.