Common Sense Now Allowed

Pursuant to a recent Supreme Court case, judges are now allowed to use common sense!

To those unfamiliar with patent litigation, this statement may seem a bit ridiculous. However, in the past judges in patent litigation were not supposed to use their own common sense. Rather, they were supposed to use objective evidence and testimony to determine whether an invention was simply obvious and not patentable.

'Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation retards progress and may, in the case of patents combining previously known elements, deprive prior inventions of their value or utility,' Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc.. 'The results of ordinary innovation are not the subject of exclusive rights under the patent laws. Were it otherwise patents might stifle, rather than promote, the progress of useful arts.'

I personally am very happy with this ruling. In the past, almost ridiculous "inventions" were granted patents since the "inventor" simply took an existing technology and tried to patent its use for a specific purpose or business model. For example, in a famous patent case a patent for a system of calculating portfolio values was held valid. However, the "invention" was basically the use of common computer networking techniques, which were invented about 10-20 years prior to the litigation, for the purposes of financial transactions. Clearly, an obvious application of a common technology, and now that judges are allowed to use their own common sense, astute judges can nip these frivolous litigations in the bud.