This post comes more than a week after the Supreme Court decided Bilski. Last Monday when the decision came down I was struggling with what value I could add to the many reports that would fill the intellectual property blogosphere, and was leaning towards waiting a few days (which also allowed me to deal with various client commitments and new opportunities). Then a good friend praised me for being the lone IP blog who had not said a word about Bilski on the day of the decision, after receiving an email of the blog’s content for the day. That comment cemented it for me. I decided to give myself some time to think about the decision before posting here. Of course, that means that much of what can be said already has been. So, links to many excellent commentaries are below.
At its heart, the Bilski decision continues the Supreme Court’s patent law trend moving away from bright line rules and allowing the flexibility to adapt the law to future situations. The business method in Bilski was struck down, but the Court did not strike down all business methods. And the justices made clear that the machine-or-transformation test was not the only option for determining patentability, increasing the law’s flexibility even more. Having preserved at least some business methods, the Court obviously left software patents intact as well. So, Bilski was not the death of business methods or software. And just as after KSR (obviousness) and eBay (injunction standard), the decision injects uncertainty into the law that will take 18 – 24 months to sort out, first in the district courts and then more slowly in the Federal Circuit. The one thing you can be sure of is that you will see lots of Bilski-based motions over the next year. And I am sure I will be writing about Northern District Bilski decisions during that time.
Here is some of the commentary from across the blogosphere:
* 271 Patent Blog;
* Chisum’s Notes on Bilski;
* Filewrapper (noting that the Supreme Court issued grant, vacate and remand orders in two business method cases assuring we will get some realtively quick Federal Circuit guidance on the outlines of Bilski);
* IPWatchdog (arguing, among other things, that even in the post-Bilski world one could write claims that would capture Bilski innovation);
* New York Times Bits Blog (looking at the uncertainty the decision injects into litigation);
* Patent Docs (looking at Bilski’s impact upon biotech patents);
* Patently-O (and here, here, here and here); and
* WSJ Law Blog.

Continue Reading Bislki: More of the Same

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Bilski case Monday afternoon. Click here for a transcript of the arguments. Here are a few of the highlights from Bilski’s argument:
JUSTICE GINSBURG: But you say you would say tax avoidance methods are covered, just as the process here is covered. So an estate plan, tax avoidance, how to resist a corporate takeover, how to choose a jury, all of those are patentable?
MR. JAKES: They are eligible for patenting as processes, assuming they meet the other statutory requirements.
JUSTICE BREYER: So that would mean that every — every businessman — perhaps not every, but every successful businessman typically has something. His firm wouldn’t be successful if he didn’t have anything that others didn’t have. He thinks of a new way to organize. He thinks of a new thing to say on the telephone. He thinks of something. That’s how he made his money.
And your view would be — and it’s new, too, and it’s useful, made him a fortune — anything that helps any businessman succeed is patentable because we reduce it to a number of steps, explain it in general terms, file our application, granted?
MR. JAKES: It is potentially patentable, yes.
* * *
JUSTICE BREYER: So you are going to answer this question yes. You know, I have a great, wonderful, really original method of teaching antitrust law, and it kept 80 percent of the students awake. They learned things – (Laughter.)
JUSTICE BREYER: It was fabulous. And I could probably have reduced it to a set of steps and other teachers could have followed it. That you are going to say is patentable, too?
MR. JAKES: Potentially.
And here are some of the highlights from the government’s argument:
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: No ruling in this case is going to change State Street. It wasn’t looking at process or the meaning of “process.” It was looking at something else.
* * *
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Mr. Stewart, I thought I understood your argument up until the very last footnote in your brief. And you say this is not –simply the method isn’t patentable because it doesn’t involve a machine. But then you say but it might be if you use a computer to identify the parties that you are setting a price between and if you used a microprocessor to calculate the price. That’s like saying if you use a typewriter to type out the — the process then it is patentable. I — I — it — that takes away everything that you spent 53 pages establishing.
* * *
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: But if you look at your footnote, that involves the most tangential and insignificant use of a machine. And yet you say that might be enough to take something from patentability to not patentable.
MR. STEWART: And all we’ve said is that it might be enough; that is, hard questions will arise down the road as to where do you draw the line, to what extent must the machine or the transformation be central —
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So you think it’s a hard question. If you develop a process that says look to the historical averages of oil consumption over a certain period and divide it by 2, that process would not be patentable. But if you say use a calculator, then it — then it is?
MR. STEWART: I think if it’s simply using a calculator for its preexisting functionality to crunch numbers, very likely that would not be enough. But what we see in some analogous areas is that the computer will be programmed with new software, it will be given functionality it didn’t have before in order to allow it to perform a series of calculations, and that gets closer to the line. And again —
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, your footnote — I don’t mean to dwell on it — it says to identify counterparties to the transactions. So that if what you’re trying to get is the — the baker who sells bread, because you are going to hook him up with the grocer who sells, you know, in the grocery store, if you punched in in your search station, you know, give me all the bakers in Washington, that would make it patentable?
MR. STEWART: Again, we are — we are not saying it would be patent eligible. We would have to review those facts, and the PTO would have to review those facts in the context of an actual application.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is simply that we don’t want the Court, for instance, in the area of software innovations or medical diagnostic techniques to be trying to use this case as the vehicle for identifying the circumstances in which innovations of that sort would and would not be patent eligible, because the case really doesn’t present any — any question regarding those technologies. And therefore, we —
If those highlights, left you wanting more, check out the following posts that give some additional context to the cold transcript or read the tea leaves, as we all wait for a decision, likely this spring:
271 Patent Blog
IPWatchdog (and here)
Patent Docs
Patently-O (and here)
The Prior Art
WSJ Law Blog

Continue Reading Bilski: Reading the Tea Leaves

Gene Quinn has done some great work in developing a list of the top 50 patent blogs at IPWatchdog, based on a combination of objective and subjective criteria — click here to read the post. With all of the usual caveats about the value of top blog lists and competitions, I am proud that the Chicago IP Litigation blog came in at number 28 and the top regional US patent blog. I am honored to be among the top regional patent blogs, including Washington State Patent Blog, California Biotech Blog,* and Georgia Patent Law. I am also proud to be among the numerous Chicago patent blogs that made the list, including Patent Docs, Orange Book Blog and the 271 Patent Blog.
Here is the top 50:
1. Patently-O
2. IPWatchdog.com
3. IP Kat
4. Spicy IP
5. Patent Baristas
6. Intellectual Property Watch
7. Patent Docs
8. 271 Patent Blog
9. BlawgIT
10. Patent Prospector
11. The Invent Blog
12. IP Think Tank and The Prior Art
13. –
14. Orange Book Blog
15. IPJUR and European Patent Caselaw
16. –
17. Promote the Progress
18. IP NewsFlash
19. Anticipate This!
20. Patentably Defined
21. India Patent
22. Intellectual Asset Management
23. Against Monopoly
24. Patent Circle
25. I/P Updates
26. PHOSITA
27. IP Spotlight
28. Chicago IP Litigation
29. The IP Factor
30. Patent Arcade and File Wrapper
31. –
32. Securing Innovation
33. Patents 101 and IP Estonia
34. –
35. PatLit
36. Just An Examiner
37. The Business of Patents
38. Patentability
39. Inventive Step
40. Holman’s Biotech IP
41. Washington State Patent Law
42. California Biotech Law
43. Patent Infringement Updates and Patent Assassins
44. –
45. Russian Patents
46. Georgia Patent Law
47. Patentnapsis
48. Honoring the Inventor
49. OC Patent Lawyer
50. Nanomedicine & IP
* Another blog by LexBlog.

Continue Reading Top Patent Blogs

IP Business Congress 2009 comes to Chicago in about two weeks, June 21-23, 2009 — click here for registration information. In honor of such an impressive group of IP lawyers coming to Chicago, I am hosting Meet the Bloggers VI on Tuesday evening June 23 starting at 5pm.
The IPBC is at the beautiful Four Seasons Chicago, but in order to make sure that attendees get a well-rounded taste of Chicago, Meet the Bloggers VI will be held at the world famous Billy Goat Tavern. The Billy Goat is just down and below the street from the Four Seasons at 430 N. Michigan Avenue. Go to the Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue and take the stairs below the sidewalk to find the Billy Goat. Those who have a long history in the IP blogosphere will remember that the Billy Goat was also the site of Meet the Blogger III (I am on the left side of the second picture). Also, I want to thank Meet the Blogger creator and Meet the Blogger III host John Welch of the TTABlog for allowing me to use the Meet the Blogger name.
I am not making any promises, but I am hopeful that if you attend you will meet Chicago legal blogging luminaries such as Internet Cases; Chicago Law (an excellent new blog by the Chicago Tribune’s Ameet Sachdev); the anonymous Editor of Blawg Review; Cyberlaw Central; and 12:01 Tuesday. and the 271 Patent Blog.

Continue Reading Cheezborger! Cheezborger! No Fries . . . . Meet the Bloggers VI

Earlier today, the Supreme Court granted cert in Bilski, the Federal Circuit’s en banc decision limiting the patentability of business method and software patents. Many commentators are predicting that the Supreme Court will further restrict business method and software claims through the machine or transformation test, although it is hard to imagine that either type of claim will be completely eliminated. Of course, the Supreme Court could also move the law back toward the State Street decision allowing business methods and software to be patented more freely. The questions presented are:
Whether the Federal Circuit erred by holding that a “process” must be tied to a particular machine or apparatus, or transform a particular article into a different state or thing (“machine-or-transformation” test), to be eligible for patenting under 35 U.S.C. § 101, despite this Court’s precedent declining to limit the broad statutory grant of patent eligibility for “any” new and useful process beyond excluding patents for “laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas.”
Whether the Federal Circuit’s “machine-or-transformation” test for patent eligibility, which effectively forecloses meaningful patent protection to many business methods, contradicts the clear Congressional intent that patents protect “method[s] of doing or conducting business.” 35 U.S.C. § 273.
For more takes on the cert decision and its implications, check out:
271 Patent Blog;
IPWatchdog;
Patently-O;
SCOTUS Blog; and
WSJ Law Blog.

Continue Reading Supreme Court Grants Cert in BIlski

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has issued its 2008 annually report* analyzing the federal court case load for fiscal year 2008. The Northern District of Illinois remains an important IP court, ranking fourth in IP case filings for 2008, with 385 cases filed, behind the Central District of California, the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of California.
Nationwide, patent and trademark case filings remained steady with only slight increases, but copyright case filings fell over 25%. One other interesting note, almost four percent of patent cases terminated in 2008 went through a trial. That is a relatively large amount of trials in the federal courts where an average of 1% of cases are tried. The 3% difference is not enough to show a post-eBay trend of increasing trials, but it could be the beginning of such a trend.
For more analysis of the report check out Peter Zura’s 271 Patent Blog and Patently-O.
* Click here to read the report.

Continue Reading Northern District of Illinois Continues as a Top IP Court

As promised, the new Patent Reform Acts were introduced in Congress this week — click here for the Senate bill and here for the House bill. While I have not yet done a comprehensive review, I understand that the bills are largely similar. Here are some highlights of the bills:
They move from the current first to invent system to the international norm, first to file.
Expanded reexamination and a new period of post-grant review.
Damages provisions require that the specific contribution over the prior art be considered and allow consideration of licensing terms for similar noninfringing substitutes. As Dennis Crouch points out, for alternatives in the public domain the comparable license could be free.
Specifically allows for Federal Circuit jurisdiction of interlocutory claim construction appeals where the district court approves the appeal.
Federal Circuit judges would no longer be required to live within fifty miles of the District of Columbia.
The venue provisions are changed to narrow possible venues.
There is plenty of commentary in the blogosphere. Here are some of the best:
271 Patent Blog (giving highlights, noting changes from the last version and do not miss Peter Zura’s blog makeover);
Patent Docs (discussing the Senate press conference announcing the Senate bill and noting BIO’s response to the bills); and
Patently-O (giving highlights and noting changes from the most recent attempted reforms) and here (reposting comments from Google’s Head of Patents and Patent Strategy, Michelle Lee).

Continue Reading Patent Reform Act of 2009

IPWatchdog Gene Quinn recently published his list of the top 26 patent blogs, based upon Technorati rankings (Quinn only considered blogs in the top 1M of the Technorati rankings) — click here to read Quinn’s post. Quinn manually determined which blogs counted as patent blogs, and did nice work. Although I would add the IP ADR Blog to the list. While I do not place much weight in blog rangings, the list identified a few new blogs that I plan to follow, and it is gratifying to see that the Chicago IP Litigation Blog has a strong reader base in the patent world.
Here are Quinn’s rankings:
Patently-O – Technorati Rank 21,202
Patent Baristas – Technorati Rank 61,134
IPWatchdog – Technorati Rank 80,245
Against Monopoly – Technorati Rank 80,245
Patently Silly – Technorati Rank 90,082
Chicago IP Litigation Blog – Technorati Rank 117,073
PHOSITA – Technorati Rank 101,726
Spicy IP – Technorati Rank 129,347
PLI Patent Practice Center – Technorati Rank 132,753
Duncan Bucknell Company’s IP Think Tank – Technorati Rank 136,348
Patent Prospector – Technorati Rank 152,448
Securing Innovation – Technorati Rank 162,007
Peter Zura’s 271 Patent Blog – Technorati Rank 163,794
The Invent Blog- Technorati Rank 167,214
Promote the Progress – Technorati Rank 198,166
I/P Updates- Technorati Rank 213,371
IP NewsFlash- Technorati Rank 221,777
Orange Book Blog – Technorati Rank 221,777
The IP Factor – Technorati Rank 250,588
Philip Brook’s Patent Infringement Updates- Technorati Rank 273,434
Patent Docs – Technorati Rank 300,413
Antiticpate This! – Technorati Rank 351,677
Patent Fools (now operated by IPWatchdog.com) – Technorati Rank 351,092
Patentably Defined – Technorati Rank 614,978
Steve van Dulke’s Patent Blog – Technorati Rank 676,101
IP Spotlight – Technorati Rank 752,199

Continue Reading Most Read Patent Blogs

Here are several Northern District and IP news stories that did not warrant separate posts:
The Northern District’s new Rockford courthouse is being named for retired Judge Roszkowski. Judge Roszkowski was the first federal judge permanently seated in Rockford and served for over twenty years.
Blawg Review #198 is up at the East Central Illinois Criminal Law & DUI Blog (click here to read it). As you might expect based upon the blog’s subject matter, there is not a lot of IP content. But there are several Illinois-specific stories that Blog readers may find interesting. For example, My Law Life warns that an Illinois statute makes it illegal to jog (or walk) on Illinois roadways where sidewalks are available — click here to read the post.
Several blogs are reporting that patent reform may be back on in Congress this year: Patently-O; and 271 Patent Blog.

Continue Reading Northern District IP News

Yesterday, President Obama announced that he was appointing Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) to become the next Secretary of Commerce, a significant position in the intellectual property world. As Secretary of Commerce, Gregg will oversee the PTO and have a strong voice in any patent reform that might occur while he is Secretary. The blogosphere and mainstream media are slowly providing background regarding Gregg:*
Patently-O
Peter Zura’s 271 Patent Blog (highlighting this Congressional Quarterly article which points out that Gregg once voted to abolish the Department of Commerce).
Washington Post’s 44 Blog.
* I will update this post with more links if I see anything especially valuable.

Continue Reading Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) Nominated Commerce Secretary