Paris June 28th. Press release.
The US Supreme Court has issued on Monday a ruling that many people had been waiting for in the so-called "Bilski" case1, regarding a patent on a business method. This decision, even though it does not exclude every software from patentability, invalidates a majority of them, including those patents on computer implemented intellectual methods. It is now time for European lawmakers to halt software patents' proliferation in Europe.
- 1. This case is about a patent by Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw, relating to a method that helps how to protect or hedge against the risk of prince changes for commodities buyers and sellers in the energy market. The patent claim was rejected by both the US Patent Office and the Court of Appeal of the Federal Circuit, on the grounds that it only merely solves a purely mathematical problem without any limitation to a practical application. See the documentary "Patent Absurdity" for more details.