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Publications
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03.20.2012Supreme Court Holds Medical Method Patent Claims Invalid for Monopolizing a Law of NatureUpdatesThe U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that claims on methods of determining whether drug dosing levels should be increased or decreased based on levels of a metabolite in a patient’s bloodstream were not patent eligible.
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06.28.2010Business Methods Patents Survive, But Not Bilski’s PatentUpdatesBy a 5-4 vote, the United States Supreme Court has rejected the notion that business methods are categorically unpatentable. By a unanimous vote, however, the Court has affirmed the PTO and Federal Circuit’s rulings rejecting Bilski’s patent claims on methods of hedging commodity risks. The Court also unanimously agreed that while the "machine or transformation" test adopted by the Federal Circuit is a useful indicator of patentability, it is not the sole test for patentability under Section 101 of the Patent Act. Although many had feared--and some had hoped--that all software patents were in jeopardy, the Court’s relatively narrow decision should allay those fears and dash those hopes.
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10.06.2009Bd. of Trs. of the Leland Stanford Junior Univ. v. Roche Molecular Sys.: Federal Circuit Rules on Timing of Patent Assignment Clause in an Employment AgreementUpdatesOn October 1, 2009, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in Stanford v. Roche, Case Nos. 2008-1509, 2008-1510. One section addresses the interpretation of a patent assignment clause to determine whether it creates an automatic assignment or merely an obligation to assign.
