The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in late October changed the test for determining patentable subject matter in the US. IP experts from four industries explain how the decision will affect your patents.
On October 30, 2008, the Federal Circuit issued its much awaited en banc decision in In re Bilski. Chief Judge Paul Michel authored the majority opinion, which was joined in by eight of the twelve other judges. Faced with a wide array of opinions offered by dozens of amici curiae from a diverse set of industries and perspectives, the Court rejected prior formulations of what should constitute a patent-eligible process in favour of the so-called machine-or-transformation test (see box). The Court found that the machine-or-transformation test is the only "governing" test and rejected the previously relied upon "useful, concrete and tangible results" test….
What Bilski means for you, 01 December 2008