Supreme Court rules on process patentability tests

Description

Abstract: The question of the appropriate test for determining whether a business method or similar process is patentable finally made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court this year. But anyone hoping for a bright-line rule is in for a letdown. This article looks at the case of Bilski v. Kappos, in which the Court refused to hold the machine-or-transformation test put forth by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 2008 as the sole test for patentability of a business method claim.