How patentability has evolved in the US
29 June 2010
Managing Intellectual Property
Yesterday’s judgment in Bilski is the latest attempt in more than 200 years to define patent-eligible subject matter in the United States. Managing IP provides a timeline of the key laws and rulings
1787 At the Constitutional Convention, founders give Congress power to "promote the Progress of ... useful Arts".
1790 Congress passes First Patent Act (Act to promote the progress of useful Arts) protecting inventions or discoveries "sufficiently useful and important".
1793 New Patent Act, authored by Thomas Jefferson, covers "any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter".
1937 Walker on Patents cites case law saying a "method...
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