While it’s not over yet as the Supreme Court might weight in, the Federal Court Kills Patents on Business Methods. I haven’t read things carefully yet (I’ll leave that for the bathroom this weekend) but from the quick analysis I’ve read (In re Bilski: Patentable Process Must Either (1) be Tied to a particular machine or (2) Transform a Particular Article) it looks like it is a strong, unambiguous decision in the good fight to eliminate ridiculous patents.
The Federal Court declined to weigh in on my hated software patents, but this is a huge step in the right direction. Bye bye business method patents – at least those that aren’t either tied to a particular machine or transform a particular article – how we’ll miss thee.