JOHN W. SCHLICHER

PATENTS, PATENT LITIGATION, PATENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND

SETTLEMENT, LICENSING, ANTITRUST, LAW AND ECONOMICS

 

 

 

John W. Schlicher, “The Supreme Court, Bilski, Business Methods, and Sensible Limits on Patents,” 91 Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society 523 (2009)

 

Table of Contents

 

I.         Summary.................................................................................................. 3

II.       The Bilski Issue........................................................................................ 4

III.      The General Law of Patentable Subject Matter...................................... 5

IV.      The Reason for Limits on Patents............................................................ 6

A.       The Benefit of Patents..................................................................... 6

B.        The Benefits of a Patent on the Bilski Process................................ 7

C.       The Costs of Patents....................................................................... 8

D.       The Costs of a Patent on the Bilski Process.................................. 10

E. When Benefits and Costs Are Difficult to Assess.......................... 12

 

V.        If Bilski’s Process Is Patentable, What Processes Are Not Patentable?.. 12

VI.      The Sometimes Meaningless Distinction between Product

           and Process Claims................................................................................. 13

VII.    The Bilski Machine or Transformation Limit on Patentable Processes. 14

VIII.   An Alternative to the Bilski Limits on Patentable Processes.................. 16

IX.      A Business Method Limit on Subject Matter......................................... 19

X.       The Supreme Court’s Decisions on Patentable Subject Matter............. 21

XI.      Are Processes of Making or Using Data Patentable?............................. 33

XII.    Is a Service a Patentable Product or a Process?..................................... 35