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Patenting Abstractions, Miriam Bitton

Miriam Bitton

This Article explores the question of whether abstract ideas can and should be patentable. Historically, the patent system excluded abstract ideas from protection and the granting of patents was restricted to specific tangible products or processes. Recent advances in information technologies, however, have blurred the boundaries of the traditional doctrine, especially for abstract processes, and many recently filed patent applications and issued patents appear to protect abstractions per se. In view of the recent Supreme Court’s Bilski v. Kappos decision, which provided some new, but vague, guidance on subject matter eligibility thresholds, suggesting that the threshold is not as narrow …