Patent law must be flexible for technology, Supreme Court rules

The Supreme Court on Monday cut software developers and university researchers a little break by keeping open notions of what can be patented.

In the year’s most anticipated science and commerce case, the court stressed that patent protection can be extended beyond machines or the "transformation" of a product. The decision amounts to at least a partial victory for the University of California, Microsoft and myriad researchers who have been watching closely.

Essentially, justices determined that patent law must remain flexible enough to handle a surge of 21st-century inventions. The patent office granted 185,224 patents in 2008, twice as many as were granted in 1990.

By Michael Doyle

McClatchy-Tribune

Full Story: http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_15396949