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Intellectual Property Keyed to Merges
Bilski v. Kappos
Facts
Petitioners developed a method to hedge against price fluctuations in the energy market, which included a simple mathematical concept and familiar statistical approaches. Petitioners applied for a patent on their claimed invention, but the patent examiner rejected the application, claiming it involved an abstract idea and was not implemented on a specific apparatus. Petitioners appealed and the Federal Circuit affirmed. The Federal Circuit held the test for patentability under § 101 was the machine-or-transformation test: (1) the claimed process was tied to a particular machine; or (2) the process transformed an article into something else. One of the dissenting judges argued it failed because it was a method of conduction business. A second dissenting judge argued the invention was an abstract idea and therefore unpatentable. A third dissenter would have remanded to determine patentability under other provisions. Petitioners appealed and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
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