A new decision by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences states that a business method that uses a computer to manage a process is not patentable, when the "transformation" is of legal rights.
To read the full Ex parte Halligan decision, click here.
In addition, BPAI states again that a general purpose computer is not a "machine" for the purposes of bilski.
While it seem evident that the BPAI grows more and more anti-patent, I am not sure bilski really went so far, and it will be interesting to see what happens of this case or a similar case reaches the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
For the time being, we are expecting even more difficult prosecution of software patents in the United
In the In Re Bilski case, the US Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit has made a decision about what it takes for a process claim to be patentable.
On October 30, 2008, the United States Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit has made a much anticipated decision in a case concerning a business method patent, the so-called In Re Bilski case.
The decision is expected to be of vital importance to the validity of process claims in general, but especially to software/computer-implemented processes and business methods. Concurrently with the fact that the decision tightens up the conditions for getting approved typically software patents and business method patents, at any rate it also verifies that it is possible to patent that kind of things at all.
The decision discusses what it takes
.jpg)
.jpg)
