ABA Brief Urges Supreme Court to Apply Incremental Test for Patentability

In a brief filed with the Supreme Court of the United States, the American Bar Association supports using a narrow, incremental test for denying patents for abstract ideas instead of broadly applying specific fixed requirements.  Such requirements might exclude emerging or unknown technologies from patent eligibility, said the association.  Tying patent eligibility to such requirements as specifics of particular machines or apparatuses or whether or not the claimed invention transforms an article into a different thing would inhibit innovation, according to the association brief.    Rather, the test should exclude claimed inventions from patentability if they recite nothing more than an abstract idea, the brief suggests.  The amicus curiae brief was filed in the case of Bilski et al v. Kappos, which is scheduled for oral argument Nov. 9, and is available by clicking here.

For questions or additional information, contact Nancy Cowger Slonim at 312-989-6132 or slonimn@staff.abanet.org .