Key Patent Case Could Have Big Tech Implications

It’s an important test for patentability and it is presently before the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s the case of KSR versus Teleflex in which the companies are battling over brake patents. The case, which legal analysts expect to be decided any day now, could have major implications in the technology industry, where patent disputes are common.At issue is whether the Federal Circuit has crafted too narrow a test for determining whether an invention is “obvious.”

Generally speaking, if the combination of prior art — that which was known or used prior to the claimed invention — would be considered obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, then the claimed invention would typically be invalidated.

According to William Atkins, head of the intellectual property practice in the Northern Virginia office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, the Court seems to be trying to find “a solution to the difficult questions in applying a motivation standard to the statutory limit on granting an obvious patent.”

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Add comment February 25th, 2007