US Supreme Court takes on broad software and method patents, sort of

What does it take to transform an abstract idea into patentable subject matter? How much do you have to add to an abstract idea before its worthy of patent protection? Can abstract ideas turn into patentable subject matter simply by stating that part of it is conducted over the internet? They're seemingly simple questions that warrant complicated answers. And while we shouldn't expect the courts to give us definitive answers to these questions for every case and scenario, the US Supreme Court is tweaking the broad guidelines.

Google and Verizon filed a joint amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief in the case of WildTangent v. Ultramercial, asking the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the topic of patenting high-level ideas in the field of technology. The court has now ruled on the issue, sort of — it vacated the lower appellate court's broad interpretation of the subject patent and remanded the case back for further consideration in view of recent Supreme Court precedent. It's not exactly a clear victory for anyone, but we imagine Google and Verizon are quite pleased to see that the issue is getting focused attention from the country's highest court.