Word: patent
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...majority opinion issued in October 2008, the judges wrote that in addition to being something novel and nonobvious, such a patent should be something that "is tied to a particular machine or apparatus" or "transforms a particular article into a different state or thing." This has since been known as the "machine-or-transformation test" and has sent shockwaves through the information-technology industry. (See the Tech Buyer's Guide...
Under a strict interpretation of the machine-or-transformation test, this process could be ineligible for a patent. As would hundreds of other patents that have been granted in the past decade...
From the point of view of the industry, more patents are not always a blessing. It may be possible to patent things like trading strategies and checkout processes on websites, but it also opens the door for expensive lawsuits from companies that file patents solely with the intent...
...Such "patent trolls" or "patent extortionists", as they've come to be known, have become a big headache, especially for technology companies...
...patent lawsuits filed against Google since late 2007, all but two have been filed by plaintiffs who don't make or sell any real product or service - in other words, by non-practicing entities or 'patent trolls'," writes Michelle Lee, Google's head of patents and patent strategy in the company's public policy blog...