By: Darren R. Crew

On April 30, 2007, the supreme Court of the United States delivered its ruling in the case KSR Internation Co. v. Teleflex Inc.  (No. 04-1350).

Summary: The U.S Supreme Court’s ruling makes it more difficult to obtain a U.S. patent makes it more difficult to defend existing U.S. patents, and makes it less difficult to invalidate existing U.S. patents.

Previously, when a party sought to invalidate an existing patent in view of the disclosures of two or more prior art references, that party would have to show that there was a prior “teaching, suggestion, or motivation” to combine prior technologies to produce the invention as set forth in the claims of existing patent. The patent examiners at the U.S . Patent and Trademark Office would use the same test when an applicant initially sought patent protection for a claimed invention.—click here to read more—