The number of utility patent applications in the United States rose by 55% from 2000 to 2009. This dramatic increase raises questions about striking the right balance between granting patent monopolies for technologies that promote innovation and denying monopolies to those that would hinder innovation. The U.S. Supreme Court once indicated that patentable subject matter “include[s] anything under the sun that is made by man.” Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303, 309 (1980). With the emergence of new technologies, particularly those that relate to the manipulation and analysis of data, courts have recently revisited the issue of what subject matter is patentable.
The scope of what may be protected by a patent is defined by statute. Section 101 of the Patent Act provides that inventors of “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof” may obtain exclusive rights for a limited period.
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