Best Quoted on Supreme Court Decision on Patents

In its recent ruling in KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., the Supreme Court rejected the strict test for invalidating a patent based on obviousness. As a result, not only will it become easier to declare an invention obvious, it also makes it unclear what test should be used in such cases. George Best, a patent litigator in Foley’s Washington, D.C. office, was quoted in the article, “A Murky Ruling: High Court’s Decision on Obviousness Leaves Patent Attorneys Scratching their Heads” in the July 2007 issue of InsideCounsel. Best was quoted as saying that because of this decision, it will be harder to get a patent issued by the Patent Office and easier to get a patent invalidated in litigation.