by  Darren Crew

Chief Judge Rader and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have provided a new and helpful explanation of patentable subject matter, elaborating on the “abstract idea” exception discussed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Bilski v. Kappos, 130 S.Ct. 3218 (2010). This new explanation of patent-eligible subject matter has been provided in Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, 627 F.3d 859 (Fed. Cir. 2010).

In one of the most highly anticipated recent patent decisions, Bilski v. Kappos, the Supreme Court addressed the patent eligibility of processes under 35 U.S.C. §101. Prior to that decision, the Federal Circuit had heavily relied on the “machine-or-transformation” test in order to identify whether a process was eligible to be patentable subject matter.–click here to read more—