The Current Chaos in Patent Law and Its Impact on Business Lawyers

For the past several years the Supreme Court has been getting deeply into the issue of what is and isn't patentable. The Court's decisions have covered biotechnology, medicine and software-based inventions, and the result has been chaos in the Patent Office and the lower courts. This chaos directly affects patent lawyers, of course, but there are also significant implications for business lawyers trying to advise their clients on a day-to-day basis. John Conley's presentation to the Mecklenburg County Bar reviewed the Supreme Court cases and the current, confused state of the law, and offered some suggestions about helping business clients negotiate the chaos.