E-Commerce Times:
As technology has advanced, the federal courts have routinely been tasked with interpreting what types of inventions are eligible for patent protection under the Patent Act. For example, in 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that human-made microorganisms were eligible for patent protection.
As the Information Age blossomed in the 1990s, the federal courts had to determine whether to extend patent protection to computer-implemented processes for manipulating information. Specifically, questions arose as to whether methods of doing business were patentable.
Method or Idea?
In 1998, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has exclusive appellate jurisdiction for patent matters, answered the question in the affirmative. Its opinion in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group held methods of doing business and manipulating data were patentable if the method “produce[d] a useful, concrete and tangible result.”
After the State Street decision, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) saw a dramatic increase in the number of patent applications filed to cover business methods. In response, the USPTO transitioned the group reviewing these applications to “become more business function focused.” In the decade following State Street, the federal courts, the USPTO, and innovators each struggled with applying the State Street patent eligibility test to the unique properties of this subject matter. Read on…
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