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U.S. Supreme Court Questions Standards for Granting Patents
Questions and comments from justices of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a patent suit suggest the court may be on the verge of changing the test for determining patentability. The court heard oral argument in KSR International v. Teleflex Inc. examining whether to change the test for determining whether an invention is obvious.
Teleflex Inc. sued Canadian firm KSR International for infringement of patent for a gas pedal for automobiles that combines two features: driver height adjustability and electronic acceleration control. KSR argued that each feature was previously known and the combination of the two was obvious and not patentable.
The Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit established the current test for obviousness in 1982, allowing certain prior references to be combined to render an invention obvious if there is a “teaching, suggestion or motivation” to combine in the references. Many of the justices expressed doubt as to the appropriateness of the test and the Federal Circuit’s application of it.
Still others, as well as many patent holders, wonder if changes to this fundamental test, under which more than 2 million patents have been granted, will open the litigation floodgates.
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