Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

June 29, 2010

Intellectual Property partner Randy Lipsitz was quoted in a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article about the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmation of the Federal Circuit’s In Re Bilski decision, which denied two founders of WeatherWise USA of a patent for their method of calculating how weather affects energy prices. Lipsitz was quoted as saying that the Court agreed that the concept of hedging risk is an abstract idea, and abstract ideas have never been patentable. He also said that the Court did not categorically exclude business methods from patentable processes, adding that as the world becomes more technology-driven, the idea of business method patents is becoming increasingly important.