SCOTUS shoots down patents "based on laws of nature"!

"The Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion yesterday holding that 'to transform an unpatentable law of nature into a patent-eligible application of such a law, a patent must do more than simply state the law of nature while adding the words "apply it."' The Court invalidated a patent on the process of adjusting medication dosage based on the levels of specific metabolites in the patient's blood. The opinion sets forth a process for determining patent eligibility for patent claims that include a law of nature. The court wrote that the "additional features" that show an application of the law must "provide practical assurance that the [claimed] process is more than a drafting effort." This language suggests that the burden will be on the patentee to prove that its limitations are more than patent attorney tricks.'"

This is a good thing, but it probably doesn't automatically 'un-grant' such existing types of patents. But with SCOTUS saying no, challenging them and getting them cancelled should be easier and less expensive.

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/03/21/1647234/supreme-court-limits-patents-based-on-laws-of-nature

RIP: Dr. M.A.R. Barker

Prof. Barker is very well known in some circles, he was a linguist, ethnologist, writer, probably more than a little versed in archeology and sociology. He was also the inventor of one of the first role-playing games, Tekumel: The Empire of the Petal Throne, and a few fictional books on the world. The game was so complete that he invented a language for it, and according to his bio, it was published by TSR BEFORE Dungeons & Dragons!

He cast a big shadow over the RPG industry and his absence will be felt.

http://www.tekumel.com/