Stanford Law Review: Volume 63, Issue 6 - June 2011: Symposium - the Future of Patents
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About this ebook
This volume, in effect a book on patent law, is the special June 2011 Symposium, featuring cutting-edge articles on patent law and other IP issues related to genetic and biotech innovation and "business methods" — after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bilski v. Kappos, and beyond.
Issues of the Stanford Law Review generally contain material written by student members of the Law Review, other Stanford law students, and outside contributors, such as law professors, judges, and practicing lawyers; this Symposium issue features articles by leading scholars in the field of intellectual property law. Its contributors include such internationally recognized IP scholars as John Duffy, Peter Menell, Mark Lemley, Michael Risch, Polk Wagner, Ted Sichelman, Rochelle Dreyfuss, and Robin Feldman.
The collection is accessible and useful not only to those who research and practice in IP law, but also to nonlawyers involved in technology, engineering, and business-method research who are interested in the complex state of the law dealing with property rights in such science and innovation, particularly in light of the Supreme Court's new textual approach to deciding what may and may not be patentable.
Quality ebook formatting includes complete and linked Tables of Contents for the issue and for each contribution; linked footnotes and URLs; linked cross-references throughout text and notes; and legible tables and graphs.
Stanford Law Review
An acclaimed student-edited legal journal of Stanford Law School, publishing six issues each year of articles by outstanding scholars in law and related disciplines.
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Stanford Law Review - Stanford Law Review
Stanford
Law Review
Symposium Issue
June 2011
The Future of Patents: Bilski and Beyond
Stanford Law Review
Volume 63, Issue 6
June 2011
Smashwords edition: Published in the 2011 digital edition by Quid Pro Books, at Smashwords.
Copyright © 2011 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. This work or parts of it may not be reproduced, copied, or transmitted (except as permitted by sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), by any means including voice recordings and the copying of its digital form, without the written permission of the print publisher.
The publisher of various editions and formats is the Stanford Law Review, who authorized Quid Pro Books exclusively to reproduce it in this ebook format: digitally published in such editions, for the Stanford Law Review, by Quid Pro Books. Available in multiple digital formats and at leading ebook retailers and booksellers.
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Cataloging for Volume 63, Issue 6:
ISBN: 161027976X (ePub)
ISBN-13: 9781610279765 (ePub)
CONTENTS
June 2011
SYMPOSIUM
Introduction
[63 STAN. L. REV. 1245]
by Dmitry Karshtedt
Why Business Method Patents?
[63 STAN. L. REV. 1247]
by John F. Duffy
"Forty Years of Wondering in the Wilderness and No Closer to the Promised Land: Bilski’s Superficial Textualism and the Missed Opportunity to Return Patent Law to Its Technology Mooring" [63 STAN. L. REV. 1289]
by Peter S. Menell
"Life After Bilski" [63 STAN. L. REV. 1315]
by Mark A. Lemley, Michael Risch, Ted Sichelman & R. Polk Wagner
"From Bilski Back to Benson: Preemption, Inventing Around, and the Case of Genetic Diagnostics" [63 STAN. L. REV. 1349]
by Rochelle C. Dreyfuss & James P. Evans
Whose Body Is It Anyway? Human Cells and the Strange Effects of Property and Intellectual Property Law
[63 STAN. L. REV. 1377]
by Robin Feldman
Information About the Stanford Law Review
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EDITORIAL BOARD
VOLUME 63
MASHA GODINA HANSFORD
President
SHELTON L. ABRAMSON
JANINE ANN WETZEL
Executive Editors
LAURA E. CONNIFF
ERIC HANSFORD
Managing Editors
DMITRY KARSHTEDT
Senior Symposium Editor
JENNIFER CLARK
Senior Development Editor
JENNIFER A.L. SHELDON-SHERMAN
Senior Notes Editor
ZAC ALEXANDER COX
Senior Production Editor
JOSH PATASHNIK
Senior Articles Editor
JONATHAN JAMES GOODWIN
Senior Finance Editor
Projects Editor
ALEX REESE
Technical Managing Editor
COLLIN P. WEDEL
Symposium Editors
ZACHARY ORLO JONES CARPENTER
ANYU FANG
JUSTIN T. GOODWIN
MATT KELLOGG
ALLISON M.E. PEDRAZZI
ELIZABETH LAUREN VAN PELT
Development Editors
ELISSA LINDEN GYSI
HAYLEY HUNT HEDGES
BENJAMIN T. JACKSON
KEVIN C. LO
PRIYA NAIK
NORMAN ANDREW SFEIR
JOHN CARDENAS WILLIAMS
Notes Editors
KATHERINE BEARMAN
MICHAEL CAESAR
LOREN A. CRARY
WILL EDELMAN
MATTHEW XAVIER ETCHEMENDY
MORGAN A. GALLAND
SOPHIA LIN LAKIN
MICHAEL MILLER
ERIN MOHAN
JESSICA I. ROTHSCHILD
THOMAS M. SPAHN
Articles Editors
DANIEL WILLIAM BELL
ELIZABETH BOGGS
GAYLE JENNIFER DENMAN
ALEXANDRA L. LAMPERT
KYLE W. MAURER
ESTEBAN MORIN
GOVIND C. PERSAD
EMILY O’BRIEN ROBERTS
ANDREW PAUL SCHUPANITZ
TIMOTHY H. SHAPIRO
YANBAI ANDREA WANG
Members
JONATHAN ABEL
JULIA ALLEN
ALEXANDER B.M. ARONSON
AMY KNIGHT BURNS
CHRISTOPHER BROOKS COLE
EMILY C. CURRAN-HUBERTY
ROSE LEDA EHLER
LILLY FANG
JANE E. FARRINGTON
MAGGIE ELLEN FILLER
ERIC S. FLEEKOP
JAMES FREEDMAN
J. ROBERT GARCIA
JENNIFER M. GIBSON
JUSTIN MICHAEL GONZALES
JENNIFER M. HALBLEIB
JENNIFER A. HOLMES
KATHERINE C. HUDSON
WILLIAM JACOBSON
CORINNE F. JOHNSON
CHERYL JOSEPH
ADAM KOOL
EMILY KORINEK
MELINDA LEE KOSTER
STEPHANIE LINDSAY LAKE
JONATHAN LELAND
STEWART P. LYNN
CLINTON J. MARTIN
BLAKE MASTERS
BRIGGS MATHESON
JONATHAN R. MAYER
COLIN MCDONELL
AMY R. MOTOMURA
BETH NEITZEL
JACQUES MICHEL NTONME
LARA PALANJIAN
ANDREW G. PROUT
HOLLY RAGAN
C. HARKER RHODES IV
PETER J. RICHMOND
NOAH SMITH-DRELICH
PETER SQUERI
MICHAEL TAMKIN
KATHERINE TRAVERSO
Business Manager
JULIE YEE
The Stanford University School of Law
OFFICERS OF ADMINISTRATION
John Hennessy, B.E., M.S., Ph.D., President of the University
John Etchemendy, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Provost of the University
Larry D. Kramer, A.B., J.D., Dean and Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Professor (by courtesy) of History
Mark G. Kelman, A.B., J.D., James C. Gaither Professor of Law and Vice Dean
Deborah R. Hensler, A.B., Ph.D., Judge John W. Ford Professor of Dispute Resolution and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies
Lawrence C. Marshall, B.A., J.D., Professor of Law, David and Stephanie Mills Director of Clinical Education, and Associate Dean for Public Interest and Clinical Education
Jane Schacter, A.B., J.D., William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Curriculum
F. Daniel Siciliano, B.A., J.D., Senior Lecturer in Law and Associate Dean for Executive Education and Special Programs
Frank F. Brucato, B.A., Senior Associate Dean for Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Diane T. Chin, B.A., J.D., Lecturer in Law and Associate Dean for Public Service and Public Interest Law
Faye Deal, A.B., Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid
Catherine Glaze, A.B., J.D., Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Sabrina Johnson, B.A., Associate Dean for Communications and Public Relations
Susan C. Robinson, B.A., J.D., Associate Dean for Career Services
Scott Showalter, B.A., Associate Dean for External Relations
FACULTY EMERITI
Barbara Allen Babcock, A.B., LL.B., LL.D. (hon.), Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita
Paul Brest, A.B., LL.B., LL.D. (hon.), Professor of Law, Emeritus, and former Dean
William Cohen, B.A., LL.B., C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law, Emeritus
Lance E. Dickson, B.A., LL.B., B.Com., M.L.S., Professor of Law, Emeritus, and former Director of Robert Crown Law Library
Marc A. Franklin, A.B., LL.B., Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law, Emeritus
William B. Gould IV, A.B., LL.B., LL.D. (hon.), Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law, Emeritus
Thomas C. Grey, B.A., B.A., LL.B., LL.D. (hon.), Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law, Emeritus
Thomas C. Heller, A.B., LL.B., Lewis Talbot and Nadine Hearn Shelton Professor of International Legal Studies, Emeritus
Miguel A. Méndez, A.A., B.A., J.D., Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law, Emeritus
John Henry Merryman, B.S., M.S., J.D., LL.M., J.S.D., Dr. h.c., Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law, Emeritus, and Affiliated Professor of Art, Emeritus
David Rosenhan, A.B., M.A., Ph.D., Professor of Law and Psychology, Emeritus
Kenneth E. Scott, A.B., M.A., LL.B., Ralph M. Parsons Professor of Law and Business, Emeritus
Michael S. Wald, A.B., M.A., LL.B., Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law, Emeritus
Howard R. Williams, A.B., LL.B., Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law, Emeritus
PROFESSORS
Janet Cooper Alexander, B.A., M.A., J.D., Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law
Joseph M. Bankman, A.B., J.D., Ralph M. Parsons Professor of Law and Business
R. Richard Banks, B.A., M.A., J.D., Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law
Juliet M. Brodie, A.B., J.D., Professor of Law
Joshua Cohen, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, Philosophy, and Law
G. Marcus Cole, B.S., J.D., Wm. Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law
Richard Craswell, B.A., J.D., William F. Baxter-Visa International Professor of Law
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, A.B., A.M., J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Law and Deane F. Johnson Faculty Scholar
Robert M. Daines, B.S., B.A., J.D., Pritzker Professor of Law and Business and Professor (by courtesy) of Finance
Michele Landis Dauber, B.S.W., J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Law, Bernard D. Bergreen Faculty Scholar, and Professor (by courtesy) of Sociology
John J. Donohue III, B.A., J.D., Ph.D., C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law
David Freeman Engstrom, A.B., M.Sc., J.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Law
Nora Freeman Engstrom, B.A., J.D., Assistant Professor of Law
George Fisher, A.B., J.D., Judge John Crown Professor of Law
Jeffrey L. Fisher, A.B., J.D., Associate Professor of Law
Richard Thompson Ford, A.B., J.D., George E. Osborne Professor of Law
Barbara H. Fried, B.A., M.A., J.D., William W. and Gertrude H. Saunders Professor of Law
Lawrence M. Friedman, A.B., J.D., LL.M., LL.D. (hon.), Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law, Professor (by courtesy) of History, and Professor (by courtesy) of Political Science
Ronald J. Gilson, A.B., J.D., Charles J. Meyers Professor of Law and Business
Paul Goldstein, A.B., LL.B., Stella W. and Ira S. Lillick Professor of Law
Henry T. Greely, A.B., J.D., Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Professor (by courtesy) of Genetics
Joseph A. Grundfest, B.A., M.Sc., J.D., W.A. Franke Professor of Law and Business
Deborah R. Hensler, A.B., Ph.D., Judge John W. Ford Professor of Dispute Resolution and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies
Daniel E. Ho, B.A., A.M., Ph.D., J.D., Professor of Law and Robert E. Paradise Faculty Fellow for Excellence in Teaching and Research
Pamela S. Karlan, B.A., M.A., J.D., Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law
Mark G. Kelman, A.B., J.D., James C. Gaither Professor of Law and Vice Dean
Amalia D. Kessler, A.B., M.A., J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Law, Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar, and Professor (by courtesy) of History
Daniel P. Kessler, B.A., J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Law, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, and Professor of Health Research and Policy (by courtesy) of School of Medicine
Michael Klausner, B.A., M.A., J.D., Nancy and Charles Munger Professor of Business and Professor of Law
William S. Koski, B.B.A., J.D., Ph.D., Eric and Nancy Wright Professor of Clinical Education and Professor (by courtesy) of Education
Larry D. Kramer, A.B., J.D., Dean and Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Professor (by courtesy) of History
Mark A. Lemley, B.A, J.D., William H. Neukom Professor of Law
Lawrence C. Marshall, B.A., J.D., Professor of Law, David and Stephanie Mills Director of Clinical Education, and Associate Dean for Public Interest and Clinical Education
Jenny S. Martinez, B.A., J.D., Professor of Law and Justin M. Roach, Jr. Faculty Scholar
Michael W. McConnell, B.A., J.D., Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law, Director, Stanford Constitutional Law Center, and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Jay Mitchell, B.A., J.D., Associate Professor of Law and Director, Organizations and Transactions Clinic
Alison D. Morantz, A.B., M.Sc., J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Law and John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar
Joan Petersilia, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law
A. Mitchell Polinsky, A.B., Ph.D., M.S.L., Josephine Scott Crocker Professor of Law and Economics and Professor (by courtesy) of Economics
Robert L. Rabin, B.S., J.D., Ph.D., A. Calder Mackay Professor of Law
Deborah L. Rhode, B.A., J.D., Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law
Jane Schacter, A.B., J.D., William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Curriculum
Deborah A. Sivas, A.B., M.S., J.D., Luke W. Cole Professor of Environmental Law
Norman W. Spaulding, B.A., J.D., Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law
Jayashri Srikantiah, B.S., J.D., Associate Professor of Law
James Frank Strnad II, A.B., J.D., Ph.D., Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law
Kathleen M. Sullivan, B.A., B.A., J.D., Stanley Morrison Professor of Law and former Dean
Alan O. Sykes, B.A., J.D., Ph.D., James and Patricia Kowal Professor of Law
Barton H. Thompson, Jr., A.B., J.D., M.B.A., Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, and Senior Fellow (by courtesy), Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Barbara van Schewick, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Law
Michael Wara, B.A., Ph.D., J.D., Assistant Professor of Law and Research Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Robert Weisberg, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., J.D., Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law
SENIOR LECTURERS
Margaret R. Caldwell, B.S., J.D., Senior Lecturer in Law and Executive Director, Center for Oceans Solutions, Woods Institute for the Environment
Janet Martinez, B.S., J.D., M.P.A., Senior Lecturer in Law
David W. Mills, B.A., J.D., Senior Lecturer in Law
F. Daniel Siciliano, B.A., J.D., Senior Lecturer in Law and Associate Dean for Executive Education and Special Programs
Allen S. Weiner, A.B., J.D., Senior Lecturer in Law
VISITING PROFESSORS & AFFILIATED FACULTY
Michael Asimow, B.S., J.D., Visiting Professor of Law
Kyle Bagwell, B.S., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Alexandria Boehm, M.S., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Jared R. Curhan, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Law
Nita Farahany, M.A., J.D., Ph.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Law
Siegfried Fina, J.D., J.S.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Law
Pratheepan Gulasekaram, J.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Tamar Herzog, Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
David Holloway, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Daniel Hulsebosch, J.D., Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Law
Ron Kasznik, M.S., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Chimene Keitner, M.P., D.P., J.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Law
Brian Lowery, B.S., M.A., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Mark McKenna, J.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Law
Bernadette Meyler, J.D., Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Law
David Patton, J.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Rogelio Perez-Perdomo, Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Law
Paul C. Pfleiderer, B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Professor (by courtesy) of Law
Madhav Rajan, B.A., M.S., M.B.A., Ph.D., Professor (by courtesy) of Law
Jack Rakove, A.B., Ph.D., Professor (by courtesy) of Law
Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, B.A., J.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Law
Lee D. Ross, B.A., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Rebecca Sandefur, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Assistant Professor (by courtesy) of Law
William Simon, A.B., J.D., Visiting Professor of Law
Helen Stacy, LL.B., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Frank A. Wolak, B.A., M.S., Ph.D., Affiliated Faculty
Jonathan Zittrain, B.S., M.P.A., J.D., Visiting Professor of Law
LECTURERS AND TEACHING FELLOWS
Alvin Attles, J.D.
Dmitry Barn, J.D.
Daniel Barton, J.D.
Marilyn M. Bautista, J.D.
Jeanine Becker, J.D.
Samuel Bray, J.D.
Viola Canales, J.D.
Diane T. Chin, J.D.
Daniel Cooperman, J.D., M.B.A.
John Crawford, M.A., J.D.
Elizabeth de la Vega, J.D.
Lothar Determann, J.D.
Michael Dickstein, J.D.
Bonnie Eskenazi, J.D.
Anthony Falzone, J.D.
Randee G. Fenner, J.D.
Bertram Fields, LL.B.
Jeremy Fogel, J.D.
David Forst, J.D.
Laurence Franklin, J.D., M.B.A., C.P.A.
Michelle Galloway, J.D.
Mei Gechlik, LL.B., LL.M., J.S.D., J.S.M., M.B.A.
Thomas C. Goldstein, J.D.
Richard Goldstone, LL.B.
Jonathan D. Greenberg, J.D.
Timothy H. Hallahan, J.D.
Brad Handler, J.D.
Keith Hennessey, M.P.P.
Brooke Heymach, J.D.
Amy Howe, M.A., J.D.
John Huhs, J.D., M.B.A.
Ivan Humphreys, J.D.
Erik Jensen, J.D.
David Johnson, J.D., J.S.M.
Danielle Jones, J.D.
Stephen Juelsgaard, D.V.M., J.D.
Kathleen Kelly, J.D.
Julie Matlof Kennedy, J.D.
Jason Kipnis, J.D.
Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, J.D.
Jeffrey W. Kobrick, J.D.
Charles Koob, J.D.
Phillip Levine, J.D.
Donald Lewis, J.D., LL.M.
Galit Lipa, J.D., LL.M.
J. Paul Lomio, J.D., LL.M., M.L.I.S.
Brian Love, J.D.
Steven Lucas, J.D.
Beth McLellan, J.D.
Jeanne Merino, J.D.
Roberta Morris, J.D., Ph.D.
Linda Netsch, J.D.
Thomas J. Nolan, J.D.
Jessica Notini, J.D.
Ralph Pais, J.D.
Moria Paz, J.S.D., LL.M.
B. Howard Pearson, J.D.
Lisa M. Pearson, J.D., J.S.M.
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SYMPOSIUM
THE FUTURE OF PATENTS: BILSKI AND BEYOND
[cite Introduction as 63 STAN. L. REV. 1245]
INTRODUCTION
Dmitry Karshtedt*
The 2011 Stanford Law Review Symposium, "The Future of Patents: Bilski and Beyond," explores the impact of the recent Supreme Court case Bilski v. Kappos¹ on technological innovation and the patent system. The articles presented in this Issue address the growth of engineering approaches to business and finance and concomitant patenting of inventions in those areas,² the historical and technological underpinnings of the patentable subject matter requirement,³ the relationship between patent eligibility and the scope of the claims to which the patentee is entitled,⁴ the effect of patents on follow-on research in the field of genetic diagnostics,⁵ and the patentability of materials that come from human sources.⁶
The live Symposium at Stanford Law School on January 28-29, 2011, co-sponsored by the Stanford Center for Law, Science, and Technology, further developed these themes. The event brought together the authors published in this Issue as well as Morgan Chu of Irell & Manella, David Jones of Microsoft, Gary Loeb of Genentech, Vern Norviel of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Marc Pernick of Morrison & Foerster, Jason Schultz of the University of California, Berkeley, and Steven Weiner of SRI International.
Dr. Roberta Morris of Stanford Law School, Professor Michael Risch of Villanova University School of Law, and Dr. Stefania Fusco of Santa Clara Law School moderated the Symposium panels. The mix of academic and practitioner perspectives provided for exciting, wide-ranging debates. The event culminated with a Keynote Address given by the Honorable James Ware, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.⁷
The Symposium’s success would not have been possible without the work of many Stanford Law Review members, particularly the members of the Symposium Committee: Jon Abel, Zack Carpenter, Anyu Fang, Jen Gibson, Justin Goodwin, Cheryl Joseph, Matt Kellogg, Allie Pedrazzi, and Libbey Van Pelt. I would like also to thank Jillian Del Pozo, Jason Estacio, Joe Neto, Roger Williams, and the Stanford Law School Program Group—Jodie Carian, Jackie Del Barrio, Trish Gertridge, and Erin Lee—for their invaluable support.
* Senior Symposium Editor, Volume 63, Stanford Law Review; J.D. Candidate, Stanford Law School, 2011.
1. 130 S. Ct. 3218 (2010).
2. John F. Duffy, Why Business Method Patents?, 63 STAN. L. REV. 1247 (2011).
3. Peter S. Menell, Forty Years of Wondering in the Wilderness and No Closer to the Promised Land: Bilski’s Superficial Textualism and the Missed Opportunity to Return Patent Law to Its Technology Mooring, 63 STAN. L. REV. 1289 (2011).
4. Mark A. Lemley, Michael Risch, Ted Sichelman & R. Polk Wagner, Life After Bilski, 63 STAN. L. REV. 1315 (2011).
5. Rochelle C. Dreyfuss & James P. Evans, From Bilski Back to Benson: Preemption, Inventing Around, and the Case of Genetic Diagnostics, 63 STAN. L. REV. 1349 (2011).
6. Robin Feldman, Whose Body Is It Anyway? Human Cells and the Strange Effects of Property and Intellectual Property Law, 63 STAN. L. REV. 1377 (2011).
7. See Hon. James Ware, U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist. of Cal., Keynote Address at the Stanford Law Review Symposium: When District Judges Look Beyond Bilski, We Still See Markman (Jan. 28, 2011), available at http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/2011-symposium-keynote-address. Video recordings of all three panels and Judge Ware’s Keynote Address are available at http://www.law.stanford.edu/calendar/details/4335/#related_media.
[cite as 63 STAN. L. REV. 1247]
WHY BUSINESS METHOD PATENTS?
John F. Duffy*
The rise of business method patents in the late twentieth century, and the controversy that has accompanied such patents over the last decade, has often been cast as being precipitated by novel judicial precedent that radically departed from traditional understandings of patentable subject matter. In particular, the Federal Circuit’s decision in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group has often been described, especially by opponents of business method patents, as an example of judicial activism that introduced patents into a field where patenting was unwanted and unnecessary. This Article demonstrates that such an explanation for the rise of business method patents is not accurate. The rise of business method patents was generated not so much by any court decision or other change in the legal system, but rather by fundamental technological and industrial changes that, during the second half of the twentieth century, began to transform many business fields into branches of engineering. This Article documents those technological and industrial changes and shows that the rise of business method patents is in fact an excellent case study in which the law followed, and accommodated, dramatic changes happening elsewhere in society.
INTRODUCTION
I. THE ACTIVIST COURT HYPOTHESIS AND ITS FLAWS
A. The Patent in State Street Was an Issued Patent
B. The Executive Branch Moved First in Eliminating Its Business Method Exception
C. State Street Followed En Banc Precedent
D. The Supreme Court’s Case Law Supported a Broad Approach to Patentable Subject Matter
II. AN ALTERNATIVE THESIS: LAW FOLLOWED TECHNOLOGY
III. BILSKI V. KAPPOS: THE FATE OF BUSINESS METHOD PATENTS
A. Textualism’s Triumph in Bilski
1. The trend toward textualism
2. Bilski and textualism
B. Wary Acceptance of Business Method Patents: Statutory Structure and the Breadth of Patentable Subject Matter
CONCLUSION: LEGAL METHOD AND THE FUTURE OF PATENTABLE SUBJECT MATTER
APPENDIX: FINANCIAL ENGINEERING AT TOP 20 ENGINEERING UNIVERSITIES
INTRODUCTION
The past dozen years have witnessed an extraordinary and at times pitched controversy over the fundamental legitimacy of so-called business method patents
—i.e., patents in which the inventor’s contribution is directed toward improving processes in fields of business such as finance, credit, insurance, marketing, sales, management, and the like.¹ The controversy has spilled out across hundreds of pages of law review articles, amicus briefs, and fractured and conflicting judicial opinions. In the past year, the controversy finally came to the Supreme Court and,