Supreme Court of the United States
Bilski v. Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, Patent and Trademark Office
June 28, 2010177 L. Ed. 2d 792
Summary
The Court held that the machine-or-transformation test is not the sole test for determining patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. §101, and that §101 does not categorically exclude business methods. Petitioners' claims on hedging risk were rejected as unpatentable abstract ideas under precedents like Benson, Flook, and Diehr. Justice Stevens concurred in the judgment, arguing business methods are not processes under §101 based on history, while Justice Breyer concurred to highlight agreed-upon principles.
Holding
- Whether the machine-or-transformation test is the exclusive test for patent eligibility. The machine-or-transformation test is not the sole test for determining whether an invention is a patent-eligible process under §101.
- Whether §101 categorically excludes business methods. Section 101 does not categorically exclude business methods.
- Whether petitioners' claims are patent-eligible. Petitioners' claims are not patentable processes but attempts to patent abstract ideas.
Docket 08-964