Software Patent Protection Curbed by U.S. Supreme Court
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Software developers can’t get a patent simply for taking an abstract idea and implementing it on a computer, the U.S. Supreme Court said, ruling for the first time in decades on protection for software innovation.
The justices today unanimously rejected a bid by Melbourne-based Alice Corp. to patent a computerized system for limiting the risk that one party to a financial transaction will renege on its obligations. Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said the patent improperly covered a “fundamental economic practice.”