Supreme Court Hands Down KSR Ruling

On April 30, 2007, the US Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. In it, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and restored the decision of the District Court, which had rejected a claim of patent infringement. The Supreme Court held that the allegedly infringed patent was invalid on the grounds that it was obvious in light of prior art.

Section 103 of the US Patent Act prohibits the issuance of a patent where "the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art."