Vonage is the Latest Victim of Patent Abuse — AMERICAN.COM: A Magazine of Ideas, Online: "Luckily, the Supreme Court heard two cases this term that will give them the opportunity to rein in these abuses of the patent system. In the case of KSR v. Teleflex, it can put real teeth in the non-obviousness requirement, so that the patent office is more likely to reject bad patents.
The court should also take advantage of Microsoft v. AT&T to reinstate the principle that software is not eligible for patent protection. That was the rule that was applied until the 1980s, when a series of rulings by the newly created Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit effectively legalized software patents. The Supreme Court has never ratified that judicial innovation, and Microsoft v. AT&T gives the courts an excellent opportunity to remedy the Federal Circuit's mistake."
