Is There Still A Big Loophole For Software And Business Method Patents?
I’ve been talking to plenty of people (mostly lawyers) about the Bilski ruling on software and business method patents while also having more time to reread the discussion in detail, and I’m going to backtrack on my original assessment. I should have known something was wrong when I wrote that CAFC may have gotten something right. They so rarely get it right, that I should have known better. Some of the good news, I still stand by. The court clearly limited the scope of software and business method patents. It rejected using the standard set forth in State Street in most cases. Some people are saying that since the court didn’t completely reject State Street that this is not the victory I thought it was. On that, I disagree. As I said in my long post about the filings in the case, I thought an outright rejection of State Street that carves out a special exemption for software and business method patents is a bad idea. Instead, I’m in favor of a much more stringent standard for anything
