June 1st, 2009
Supreme Court to hear patent case with broad implications
Weather-based risk in commodities trading. Is that too abstract for a patent? Maybe not. While the question may seem arcane, it actually has big import for high-tech.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the patent on the so-called business method patent because it was too abstract. The inventors say the invention is patentable because “it produced a useful, real-world result: the ability to buy or sell commodities over a given time period at fixed prices,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The case pits biotech against high-tech again, the Journal says, as it’s another attempt to broaden patent protections.
International Business Machines Corp., Dell Inc. and Microsoft Corp. were among the companies who had urged the lower court to rein in patent rights, while biotechnology groups warned that changes to current patent standards could harm patent protections for biotech inventions.
