On June 28, 2010, the last day of its term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its eagerly awaited opinion on one of the most controversial issues in patent law, business method patents, Bilski v. Kappos, 2010 WL 2555192. Those who hoped that the Court would simply do away with business method patents—or at least announce a stringent test that would limit their grant or enforcement—were disappointed. While four justices would indeed outlaw business method patents, the majority of the Court refused to go that far, affirming the Patent Office’s rejection of a business method application but leaving for the future the development of a comprehensive set of criteria to govern claimed business method inventions.
The patent application considered in Bilski claimed a method for hedging against the risk of price changes in commodities markets. According to the Court, the claims described “a series of steps instructing how to hedge risk,” and expressed those concepts in a “simple mathematical formula.” Certain claims also “suggest familiar statistical approaches to determine the inputs” to use in the formula.
