Academic

Varela on Legal Method Patents & Professional Responsibility

By Lawrence Solum

Stephanie L. Varela (University of Florida Levin College of Law) has posted Damned If You Do, Doomed If You Don't: Patenting Legal Methods and its Effect on Lawyers' Professional Responsibilities (Florida Law Review, Vol. 60, p. 1145, 2008) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Following the Federal Circuit's decision in State Street to extend patent protection over business methods, the USPTO has opened a Pandora's box by endorsing the patentability of tax strategies. Patent protection over other legal methods will likely continue given the USPTO's interpretation of the Patent Act and its understanding of the State Street doctrine. This Note examines whether patent protection should extend to legal methods in light of the professional responsibilities lawyers owe to clients and to the legal profession.

Student note on a fascinating topic.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on September 29, 2009 (boomark / email).