Attendees lined up outside the High Court early on the morning of November 9 to gain access to the 1:00 pm hearing in Bilski and Warsaw v Kappos. The Court was packed to capacity – about 400 people gathered to hear the controversial patent case, and many more were turned away. Bradley Wright of Banner & Witcoff was in line by 9:45 am and was still the 41st member of the Bar to be admitted to the court room.
Justice Scalia kicked off the questioning, interrupting Bilski’s counsel, J Michael Jakes, when he asserted that the Federal Circuit’s October 2008 decision promoting the so-called machine-or-transformation test as the proper test to apply in determining patent eligibility was too rigid. "What is wrong with [the] analysis that [the term] ‘useful arts’ always was thought to deal with machines and inventions?" asked Scalia.
Supreme court hears business method battle, 01 December 2009, Eileen McDermott, Washington D.C.