Hidden among all the big-ticket Supreme Court decisions handed down today, Nick Baumann reports on one of the less momentous ones:
On Monday, the Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that struck down Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw’s “business method” patent for hedging energy prices against the weather. Some observers had hoped that the court would issue a broad ruling rejecting many “business method” patents — such as Amazon.com’s “one-click” purchasing — entirely. (Critics of business method patents argue that you shouldn’t be able to get patent protection for something as supposedly “obvious” and vague as one-click ordering.) Instead, the court ruled narrowly….That leaves the door open for the Patent Office to continue granting recognition to things like Amazon’s one-click.
Well, that’s a drag. I think that business method patents are harder to get now than they used to be, but Amazon’s ridiculous one-click patent was granted this year after they revised a few of their claims. It’s idiocy. I’d be delighted to see the Supreme Court or Congress do away with the whole business method patent cesspool entirely. The triviality of most business method claims has long since gotten way out of hand, and the whole world would be better off if we just put an end to them.
