2010 Text 2

Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods. Amazon.com received one for its "one-click" online payment system. Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box.

在过去的十年，数以千计所谓的生意策略的专利被批准。亚马逊网站为它的“一点即付”系统申请到了专利。Merrill Lynch让他的资产垄断策论得到了合法保护。一个发明家申请了一项举起盒子的技术的专利。

Now the nation's top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago. In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it would use a particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. In re Bilski, as the case is known, is "a very big deal," says Dennis D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of Law. It "has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents."

现在国家最高专利法院似乎已完全准备好缩减商业方法专利的数量，这些专利自从十年前首次授权以来一直备受争议。美国联邦巡回上诉法院表示，将会利用一个特定案件来对商业方法专利进行广泛的审查，此举引起了知识产权律师的争议。密苏里大学法学院的Dennis D. Crouch 表示，“众所周知， Bilski案是一个大事件”。它“有可能消除一整类专利”。

Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the Federal Circuit itself that introduced such patents with its 1998 decision in the so-called State Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging Internet companies trying to stake out exclusive rights to specific types of online transactions. Later, more established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents, despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment firms armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.

对商业方法专利的限制将会迎来戏剧性的转变，这是因为在1998年所谓的道富银行案中，正是联邦巡回法院它自己引入了商业方法专利，并批准了一项关于汇集共同资金的专利。这一裁决导致商业方法专利申请量激增，起初是由新型互联网公司尝试争夺特定类型在线交易的独家权。不久后，有更多已成立的公司加入了申请专利的大军中，即使这只是作为一种防止对手可能先发制人的防御策略。到了2005年，IBM在一次法庭申请中提出了超过300项商业方法专利，尽管它质疑授予这些权利的法律依据。无独有偶，有些华尔街的投资公司也用金融产品专利武装自己，尽管他们在法庭案件中表明了自己的反对立场。

The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The Federal Circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court's judges, rather than a typical panel of three, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should "reconsider" its State Street Bank ruling.

 Bilski案涉及一项有关能源市场风险对冲的专利。联邦巡回法院发布了一项不同寻常的指令，规定该案将由12名法官共同审理，而不是典型的3人小组，并且它想要评估的一个问题是是否应该“重新考虑”道富银行案的裁决。

The Federal Circuit's action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the Supreme Court that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. Last April, for example, the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for "inventions" that are obvious. The judges on the Federal Circuit are "reacting to the anti-patent trend at the Supreme Court," says Harold C. Wegner, a patent attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.

联邦巡回法院的行动是在最高法院最近做出一系列缩小专利持有人保护范围的决定之后采取的。例如去年四月，法官们表示有太多显而易见的“发明”专利得到了支持。专利律师和乔治华盛顿大学法学院教授Harold C. Wegner说，联邦巡回法院的法官正在“对最高法院的反专利趋势做出回应”。

本文主要分析了美国专利法庭“过去十年大量颁发商业方法专利，如今则准备大幅缩减该类专利规模”的巨大转变。

第一段举例论证介绍过去：大到知名企业的商业方法，小到不知名者的生活技能都在过去十年间得到了专利保护。

第二段表明当前态势的转变：最高法院准备从Bilski案入手，缩减商业方法专利的数量。

第三四段评述现象：通过追溯商业方法专利的源起和对待Bilski案的特殊审理方式，表明联邦巡回法院当前对此类专利态度的转变。

第五段分析现象产生的原因：顺应最高法院的反专利趋势。

做题是注意选项偷梁换柱，正确选项都应在文中有所对应，而错误选项往往是将文中表示态度的词进行了错义的替换。