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Supreme Court of the United States
The US Supreme Court is the highest court in the USA.
Some important cases
Cases treating the most important topic, patentable subject matter:
- Bilski v. Kappos 2009 (as of June 26th, 2010, opinion still pending)
- Diamond v. Diehr, 1981
- Parker v. Flook (1978, USA)
- Gottschalk v. Benson, 1972
Other cases that have affected software patents:
The judges
The judges of the 2009 term (Oct '09 - Oct '10), who wrote the Bilski v. Kappos decision are:
- Chief Justice Roberts
- Justice Stevens (retired after Bilski; widely expected to be replaced by Elena Kagan)
- Justice Scalia
- Justice Kennedy
- Justice Thomas
- Justice Ginsburg
- Justice Breyer
- Justice Alito
- Justice Sotomayor
Justice Stevens is the only member of the court involved in previous cases which touched on patentable subject matter. Stevens wrote the majority opinion in Parker v. Flook (1978, USA), and wrote a dissenting opinion in Diamond v. Diehr (1981, USA).
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- Case law in the USA
- USA patents courts and appeals
- US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit - the Federal court that hears patent appeals, below the Supreme Court
