Document Type
Article
Abstract
Patent law in the United States has been in the process of changing in the last few years due to a series of Supreme Court cases and congressional action. This Article gives an overview of these changes and their implications.
In 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court decided four landmark patent cases, each time affirming the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On June 28, 2010, the Court unanimously held in Bilski v. Kappos that a patent application for claims involving hedging risk in energy markets involved non-patentable subject matter. On May 31, 2011, the Court held 8–1 in Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A. that induced patent infringement required knowledge, which encompasses willful blindness, that the induced acts constituted patent infringement. On June 6, 2011, the Court held 7–2 in Board of Trustees of the LeLand Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. that the Small Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980, the Bayh-Dole Act does not automatically vest the patent rights to federally funded inventions in the federal contractor. On June 9, 2011, the Court held 8–0 in Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Limited Partnership that the defense of patent invalidity must be proven by clear and convincing evidence.
Also, at the time of this writing, both houses of Congress have passed the America Invents Act, which changes the American patent system in major ways, including moving from a first to invent system, to a first to file patent system. The Supreme Court jurisprudence and the America Invents Act are discussed herein.
Recommended Citation
Sue Ann Mota,
The Time They are a' Changin': Bilski v. Kappos, Global Tech v. SEB, Stanford v. Roche, and Microsoft v. i4i,
16 J. Tech. L. & Pol'y
(2011).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/jtlp/vol16/iss2/3