Bilski v. Doll

Bilski v. Doll is an important decision by the Federal Circuit which was under reconsideration by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2009 Term, and then ultimately decided under the different caption Bilski v. Kappos. It presented the following questions:

Whether the Federal Circuit erred by holding that a "process" must be tied to a particular machine or apparatus, or transform a particular article into a different state or thing ("machine-or-transformation" test), to be eligible for patenting under 35 U.S.C. § 101, despite this Court's precedent declining to limit the broad statutory grant of patent eligibility for "any" new and useful process beyond excluding patents for "laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas."

Whether the Federal Circuit's "machine-or-transformation" test for patent eligibility, which effectively forecloses meaningful patent protection to many business methods, contradicts the clear Congressional intent that patents protect "method[s] of doing or conducting business." 35 U.S.C. § 273.

It is an appeal from In re Bilski. The Petition for Certiorari was granted on June 1, 2009.

See also

• Bilski v. Kappos