BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - June 28, 2010) - Intellectual property lawyers at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C., a Boston IP-only firm, are available to comment on the Supreme Court ruling in the Bilski case.
Wolf Greenfield represented the winners in the 1998 State Street case that opened the door to business-method patents addressed in today's ruling.
"In today's opinion, the Court declined to exclude business methods -- or any other category of methods -- from patent protection, but rather held Bilski's patent application to be ineligible on the narrow basis that the particular invention claimed is an abstract idea," said James J. Foster, a shareholder and veteran litigator with Wolf Greenfield.
"The Court discussed at length whether business methods could be patented. All the justices appeared to agree that these patents raise special problems and thus the Patent Office should set a high bar when considering patent applications of this sort. The Court, however, rejected (5-4) an across-the-board exclusion of all business method patents. The Court did suggest that the Federal Circuit could define a narrower category of such applications (such as those that attempt to patent abstract ideas) as not eligible for patent protection."
Besides Foster, Wolf Greenfield's experts include:
Steven J. Henry, shareholder -- the legal architect in the State Street case.
Industry IP experts -- Lawyers who can address how the decision affects various industries.
Free webinar
Wolf Greenfield will present a free webinar on the Bilski decision on Wednesday, July 7 from 12:00 pm-1:30 pm EDT. Registration is available by emailing scrocker@wolfgreenfield.com.
Wolf Greenfield, the largest law firm in New England devoted exclusively to intellectual property law, serves companies that make everything from pharmaceuticals to software to electronics to snowboards, as well as representing academic research centers. The firm counsels clients in the areas of patents, trademarks, copyrights, designs, trade secrets, and related licensing and litigation. Web: www.wolfgreenfield.com.
Contact Information:
Contact:
Henry Stimpson
Stimpson Communications
508-647-0705
HStimpson@StimpsonCommunications.com
Sara Crocker
Wolf Greenfield
617-646-8231
scrocker@wolfgreenfield.com
Cristina Brennan
Wolf Greenfield
617-646-8259
cbrennan@wolfgreenfield.com