The 20 Year War On Patents: When Will It End?

The Federal Circuit’s 1998 State Street Bank decision was a sweeping departure from precedent and opened the floodgates to so-called business method patents, leading to a significant outcry against “bad patents.” Also, out-of-control patent troll litigation gave birth to the anti-troll movement, which further fueled the fires of an anti-patent backlash, resulting in judicial and legislative action amounting to arguably the most significant pendulum swing against patent rights in US history. Many of the resulting changes were necessary to address these problems, but how far have we gone, and when will it end? From the first Patent Act of 1790…

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