Patent attorneys are often asked the question: “Is my idea patentable?” Often the idea is related to software or business methods. Well-known business methods include Amazon’s “1-click shopping” and Priceline’s “reverse auction.” In the new digital economy, innovative software and business method models have given rise to new very successful companies such as LinkedIn, Uber, and Airbnb. As important software and business method inventions are in the new digital economy, it is often unclear whether they can be patented. This uncertainty is largely due to a legal rule that “abstract ideas” are not eligible for patent protection. This rule originates from a long line of U.S. Supreme Court cases, with Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank International, decided in June of 2014, being the most recent and influential of these cases. The basic rationale for the rule is a concern over so-called “preemption” of abstract ideas. That is to say abstract ideas are the basic building blocks of science and industry, and allowing patents to monopolize abstract ideas can preempt the use of such basic building blocks.
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