Bilski Patent Case Appealed To Supreme Court

An anonymous reader writes "The landmark ruling of a few months ago that limited patents to inventions which include a machine or which transform physical matter has been appealed up to the Supreme Court. 'On the one side of this controversy... are those... who argue that patents must be available to encourage innovation in devising new ways to conduct business in the global information-based economy, including encouragement for new ways of digitizing business methods. On the other side are consumer advocacy groups and free-market devotees who worry that patent monopolies could tie up methods of creative thought processes, including teaching, judging, creative writing, making medical judgments, or picking juries (some current, real examples of claims).' The Bilski decision has already had an impact on potential software and biotech patents, in addition to the obvious limitations on business method patents. The petition (PDF) argues that the 'machine-or-transformation' test conflicts with the broad language of the patent statute and with congressional intent. It's entirely within the Supreme Court's discretion to take the case or not, but for now it looks like the issue is far from decided."

Riiiigghht

[AKAImBatman]

On the one side of this controversy... are those... who argue that patents must be available to encourage innovation in devising new ways to conduct business in the global information-based economy, including encouragement for new ways of digitizing business methods.

My bullshit detector just exploded.

Re:PLEASE uphold it!

[Anonymous Coward]

I claim:

1. A method of telling a joke containing sarcastic witticism, the method comprising:

providing an obvious allusion to factual events in a farcical manner;

delaying until a reader locates the reference material referred to by the obvious allusion; and

posting a message in the form of a patent claim, the message substituted for a standard "whoosh" post.