Decision in Bilski v. Kappos
The Supreme Court released its decision in Bilski v. Kappos today, a long-awaited case dealing with the scope of patentable subject matter under 35 USC Sec. 101. In short, the Supremes affirmed the Federal Circuit’s judgment that Bilski’s business method was not patent-eligible, but stated that the Federal Circuit’s “machine-or-transformation” test was not the sole test of patentable subject matter. More will come shortly, but for now, here is a link to the opinion:
Bilski v. Kappos opinion
There is bound to be much erudite commentary on the Bilski decision. Here is a running list of the posts I have found that might be of interest to the casual (or professional) reader. If you have something you want linked, let me know. Note that Gene Quinn at IPWatchdog.com also has what appears to be a memo to Examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office giving a preliminary assessment of Bilski‘s impact on their operations. [As an aside, so much of the following commentary is really excellent that it gives me pause regarding whether I should even try to contribute my two cents’ worth. Nice work, everyone.]
Eric Guttag at IPWatchdog
IP Now: Australia and New Zealand
IPWatchdog Memo to Examiners [PDF]
Joe Mullin at Corporate Counsel
Joe Mullin at The Prior Art [same]
Ted Sichelman at Patently-O
37 Thoughts 
There is nothing suprising about the decision, but it is good decision nonetheless. My thoughts can be found here: http://www.richardspatentlaw.com/2010/06/28/bilski-v-kappos-supreme-court-opinion/.
The Court’s Bilski ruling is actually growing on me, in large part because I increasingly appreciate the judicial restraint exercised by the majority. Nevertheless, it’s pretty easy to see that the issue of defining the limits of an “abstract idea” will likely be the focus of much patent litigation in the near future. I do rather wish that the Court had made more of an attempt to address this. Lacking guidance from above, lower courts will have to address the issue case-by-case, and we’ll likely end up with some kind of piecemeal, undefined, “I know it when I see it” means of determining which inventions are too abstract. I wouldn’t be surprised if the issue ends up going back up to the Supreme Court again very soon.