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Retailers Urge Supreme Court Smackdown Of Process Patents
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November 12th, 2009
Relief may be in sight for retailers that are afraid someone somewhere has secured a patent covering some mundane process they regularly use in the course of selling stuff—be it the way customers swipe payment cards, their methods for collecting loyalty program data or the functioning of their Web site's shopping cart feature. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday (Nov. 9) heard arguments about process patents and there were indications that it might radically tighten the rules surrounding such patents. Seven E-tailers, including J.C. Penny, Talbots, L.L. Bean and Overstock.com, are urging the high court to clamp down on patent violation lawsuits by so-called "patent trolls," which are often shell companies claiming rights to vague business-method patents.
Many of the Supreme Court justices expressed significant skepticism about whether the current system should be maintained. Questioning one attorney about a financial approach patent, Justice Anthony Kennedy raised a Congressional intent argument. "In your view, clearly those would be patentable: the explanation of how to compile an actuarial table and apply it to risk. It's difficult for me to think that Congress would have wanted to give only one person the capacity to issue insurance." The newest member of the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, asked how far process patents could go. "How do we limit it to something that is reasonable? Why not patent the method of speed dating?"
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4 Comments | Read Retailers Urge Supreme Court Smackdown Of Process Patents
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk.com? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk.com? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
-Christine
November 13th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Patents may only be issued on novel inventions, meaning if it existed before you discovered/created it, it cannot be patented. If a patent should be issued in spite of a lack of novelty, it will be invalidated in court if an accused infringer can provide proof that the invention was not novel.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
If inventors or businesses have strong opinions on a legislative solution they should express them to the Judiciary Committees that oversee the Patent Office which they can do at http://www.inventorinsights.com/Congress_Patent_Office_Oversight_Committee.html. I would like to know where you can get a list of patent insurance companies in the U.S.
Thanks in advance
Colin
May 21st, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Here is an amazing quote by USPTO Director David Kappos on just how serious the backlog is in terms of its impact on downstream economic growth and prosperity:
“Nearly nine months into his tenure as director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, David Kappos said Monday [May 3, 2010] that he thinks the agency still is stifling millions of potential jobs [following the financial meltdown triggered in 2008] because of its inability to keep pace with the volume and complexity of the applications it receives.
While he lacks empirical data on the number of jobs that ‘our country’s innovation agency’ impedes because of its inability to keep up, Kappos said his instincts tell him the number runs into the millions.
‘Hundreds of thousands of groundbreaking innovations that are sitting on the shelf literally waiting to be examined – jobs not being created, lifesaving drugs not going to the marketplace, companies not being funded, businesses not being formed – there’s really not any good news in any of this,’ Kappos said during a panel discussion at the annual trade show of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
What’s more, innovation has become the main driver of economic growth, Kappos said. The agency’s backlog impedes economic advancement at a time when China and the rest of Asia are spending unprecedented sums on research and development, challenging the United States in areas of technology innovation where it once reigned supreme, he said.”
(John Schmid of the Journal Sentinel, “Backlog of patents still stifling potential jobs, director says,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 3, 2010)
David Kammen
June 26th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Love the Kappos quote. How about this one by President Obama? “Believe it or not, in our patent office — now, this is embarrassing — this is an institution responsible for protecting and promoting innovation — our patent office receives more than 80 percent of patent applications electronically, then manually prints them out, scans them, and enters them into an outdated case management system. This is one of the reasons why the average processing time for a patent is roughly three years. Imminently solvable; hasn’t been solved yet.”
— President Barack Obama, Forum on Modernizing Government, White House, January 14, 2010
http://www.inventionstatistics.com/Patent_Backlog_Patent_Office_Backlog.html