I spoke the other day with a lawyer buddy of mine who is a leading patent lawyer in Silicon Valley, and here is what he had to say about Bilski: 1. The USPTO h

I spoke the other day with a lawyer buddy of mine who is a leading patent lawyer in Silicon Valley, and here is what he had to say about Bilski: 1. The USPTO has in fact tightened up significantly on the granting of software patents for the past five years, meaning that the flaky ones (like One-Click) are historical artifacts and not indicative of current practice. 2. There is nothing in the law that can reasonably be interpreted to impose a ban on software patents and this will not happen in Bilski. 3. Abuses in the field are rampant, with patents mills acting much like extortionists running a protection racket. 4. In the long run, the problems will be largely self-correcting, as the same blizzard of software patents that now clogs the system will eventually become prior art that will serve as the best defense against trivial patents of the future that would otherwise hinder innovation. Take the points for what they are worth. Personally, I think Bilski's claims will go down, as will the absurdly expansionist interpretations proferred by his lawyer, but this will not put an end to software patents. It is Congress which is constitutionally charged with defining patentable subject matter and it will take nothing less than an act of Congress to impose definitive reform in this area.