“There were unintended effects, too. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was deluged with new patent applications and had few examiners with the expertise to handle them. Four Supreme Court justices have bemoaned the precedent, calling it vague and contrary. And several financial-services companies, frequent targets of the business-method-patent holder, have run up millions and in some cases billions of dollars in royalties and damages.”
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I worked as a patent law paralegal for several years. This looks like a real pain in the neck from the side of preparing patent applications for clients. The backlog for applications awaiting action by a Patent Examiner at the USPTO will be a headache, to say the least...
The CAFC has been out of control for years as evidenced by the State Street decision. This decision lead to joke patents being issued and everyone decrying the patent system. The truth is, it was the CAFC that failed the patent system and not the other way around. For years it was established law that business methods were not patentable subject matter. Thus, the PTO did not even accept such applications and never built up a library of written prior art. Once State Street hit, the PTO was caught without recourse to reject some of these turkey applications, i.e. a method for sweeping a floor, etc. because there was simply no written prior art. In addition, it lead to a flood of applications hitting the PTO which has created a backlog and lead to poor examination of the applications that truly have merit.
I was at a judges dinner in NYC and one of Roberts ex-clerks in the D.C. Cir. hinted that Roberts could not wait to get his hands on a case involving patentable subject matter. In addition, Roberts felt that the CAFC was out of control. Clearly the CAFC has finally gotten the message and is about to correct State Street or at least restrict its application. Lets hope this decision is a wise one.