Software Patents: Bilski Case before the US Supreme Court
The Bilski Case is to be heard by the US Supreme Court. The case deals with the patent eligibility of marketable ideas and will, according to expert opinion, have great influence on the patenting of software.
On October 30. 2008, a Court of Appeal handed down a ruling on Bilski that since then has been much discussed. Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw, founders of the Weatherwise company, wanted in 1997 to protect their ideas on the processing of weather risk data.
The US Patent Board refused to recognize the patent because in their opinion, the idea did not rely on technology and was merely a mental process. Patent lawyers quickly saw the similarities with the situation involving free and open software and attorneys from the US Linux distro Red Hat presented the courts of appeal with a brief of amicus curiae.
Now, after a long legal battle involving numerous appeals, the highest court in the land will decide if patents can be awarded to, for example, financial products, business principles and Internet transactions. In the latest decision on the Bilski case, IBM took sides against the patenting of business ideas, although the company itself owns many such patents. The consultant company, Accenture and American Express both support the idea.
In his blog, law professor Dennis Crouch presents the held positions of larger organizations and companies regarding the Bilski case. His blog shows that companies like Microsoft and Dell want to see patents closely linked to technological utilization, while Yahoo would like the patents to be more broadly defined. The hearing will begin in October. A result is expected early 2010.
Issue 263/2022
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
Deepin 23 Preview Release is Available For Testing
The developers of Deepin have made a preview release of their latest offering available with three exciting new features.
-
The First Point Release For Ubuntu 22.04 is Now Available
Canonical has released the first point upgrade for Jammy Jellyfish which includes important new toolchains and fixes.
-
Kali Linux 2022.3 Released
From the creators of the most popular penetration testing distributions on the planet, comes a new release with some new tools and a community, real-time chat option.
-
The 14" Pinebook Pro Linux Laptop is Shipping
After a considerable delay, the 14" version of the Pinebook Pro laptop is, once again, available for purchase.
-
OpenMandriva Lx ROME Technical Preview Released
OpenMandriva’s rolling release distribution technical preview has been released for testing purposes and adds some of the latest/greatest software into the mix.
-
Linux Mint 21 is Now Available
The latest iteration of Linux Mint, codenamed Vanessa, has been released with a new upgrade tool and other fantastic features.
-
Firefox Adds Long-Anticipated Feature
Firefox 103 has arrived and it now includes a feature users have long awaited…sort of.
-
System76 Refreshes Their Popular Oryx Pro Laptop with a New CPU
The System76 Oryx Pro laptop has been relaunched with a 12th Gen CPU and more powerful graphics options.
-
Elive Has Released a New Beta
The Elive team is proud to announce the latest beta version (3.8.30) of its Enlightenment-centric Linux distribution.
-
Rocky Linux 9 Has Arrived
The latest iteration of Rocky Linux is now available and includes a host of new features and support for new architecture.