Supreme Court Affirms Bilski but Rejects "Machine or Transformation" Test as the Sole Test of Patentability
In its long-awaited opinion in Bilksi v. Kappos, found here, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the Federal Circuit's judgment that the claims at issue were unpatentable but also held unanimously that the "machine or transformation" test of determining whether a claimed process is patentable is not the sole test for determining patentability. Beyond holding that the petitioners' claims were unpatentable abstract ideas, however, the majority did not go any further, merely stating that it "need not define further what constitutes a patentable 'process,' beyond pointing to the definition of that term provided in §100(b)" and its earlier precedents.
Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, which was joined in full by Roberts, Thomas and Alito. Scalia joined in all but two parts of Kennedy's opinion. Stevens wrote a concurrence joined by Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor; and Breyer wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Scalia joined in part.
