Practical steps for patenting software post Bilski

Abstract

The US Supreme Court's holding in Bilski v Kappos limits software developers attempting to patent inventions using method claims. The Bilski holding limited the scope of business method patents to those that claim a method hosted on a machine or those that effect a transformation of a particular article into a different state or thing. While today's scope of method claims is more limited than before Bilski, inventors can still effectively patent software inventions. This paper presents practical suggestions for patenting software inventions described by a method claim. The Supreme Court's holding is discussed, then using a scenario of an interest in patenting a method of finding the roots of a polynomial, several claim formats will be reviewed.