The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments in the patent case Bilski v. Kappos, on appeal from the 2008 decision of the Federal Circuit. The Federal Circuit opinion had affirmed the Board of Patent Appeals in denying Bilski’s attempt to obtain a process patent on a method of hedging financial risk. The case has been closely watched within the information and technology fields for its impact on the status of so-called ‘business method’ patents (including, famously, several related to e-commerce).
For news and background:
Orin Kerr at Volokh Cosnpiracy (and linking an article available through SSRN).
Jill Browning at PatentlyO.
Ashby Jones at the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog.
And I was hoping for one of Dahlia Lithwick’s entertaining Supreme Court Dispatches from Slate, but it appears she wrote about the Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida arguments instead (cases regarding the constitutionality of life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders).
Andrew Plumb-Larrick