Patent Law

Pittsburgh newspaper laments CAFC Bilski decision

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

The 9-3 ruling by the appeals court in Washington against former Equitable Gas Co. executives and WeatherWise USA Inc. founders Rand Warsaw and Bernard Bilski is the latest setback in a saga dating back to the partner's original patent application for a mathematical way to manage bad weather risk by making hedged trades in the commodities market. The original patent was filed in April 1997.

"The situation is just atrocious," said a disgruntled Warsaw, who took over as president of the South Side-based company when Bilski left in 2003.

Curiously, one has:

"The original State Street patent might be reviewed based on the Circuit Court's Bilski ruling, as could Amazon.com's "One click" patent," Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney attorney Lynn Alstadt said. "The Amazon one-click patent also might be examined."

***Separately, see the BPAI decision in Ex parte Koo

In view of In re Bilski, 2007-1130, slip op. (Fed. Cir. Oct. 30, 2008)
we must consider the statutory sufficiency of the recited claims under 35
U.S.C. § 101. Under Bilski, ?the machine-or-transformation test is the only
applicable test and must be applied, in light of the guidance provided by the
Supreme Court and this court, when evaluating the patent-eligibility of
process claims.? (Id., slip op. at 29).
.

Full post as published by IPBiz on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).