Patent Law

Anthony F. Lo Cicero, Charles R. Macedo and Jung Hahm on Friday, April 4, 2008, filed a Brief For Amici Curiae Reserve Management Corporation, PCT Capital LLC, Rearden Capital Corp. And Sales Optimization Group In Support Of Maintaining State Street and AT&T in In Re Bernard L. Bilski and Rand A. Warsaw, Appeal No. 2007-1130 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 4, 2008).

The following is excerpted from that brief:

In 1998, this Court had the forethought and insight to recognize that the revolution in information technology and availability of the Internet would radically change the way that the world does business, and that US patent law would need to adapt to this new technological and commercial reality by confirming the availability of patent protection for so-called "business method" patents.  First in State Street, and then later in AT&T, this Court followed the Supreme Court's lead in Diamond v. Diehr to recognize that patentable subject matter should be broadly construed to "include anything under the sun that is made by man."

Amici Curiae join the AIPLA in urging this Court not to disturb the settled expectations that financial method patents fall squarely within the broad scope of 35 USC 101, if they produce a"useful, concrete and tangible result."  The appropriate analysis for determining statutory subject matter under Section 101 was set forth in Diehr and should not be limited to applications that are tied to a computer or other machine, or require a strict physical transformation.  A process under 35 USC 101 is "an act or series of acts" which to be patent-eligible subject matter must produce a "useful, concrete and tangible results" or "a beneficial result or effect."

The full brief is available at Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein, LLP's website.