Supreme Court Issues Groundbreaking Ruling Making It Easier To Invalidate Patents As Obvious

The Supreme Court issued a major new decision on patent law today, creating uncertainty about whether existing patents might be invalidated as too similar to previous inventions. Under the patent statute, an inventor cannot obtain a patent if the invention is "obvious" in light of prior work in the field. The Supreme Court decision rejected a longstanding Federal Circuit test for demonstrating that a patent is obvious under that statute. In a decision issued on April 30, 2007, the Supreme Court held that the Federal Circuit’s "teaching-suggestion-motivation" test conflicted with the patent statute and the Supreme Court’s precedents. As a result, businesses facing a patent infringement suit will have an easier time demonstrating that the Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") mistakenly issued a patent for an obvious invention. In addition, examiners in the PTO will likely