Sentence examples for a business methods from inspiring English sources
Mr. Miller said the Patent and Trademark Office had subjected his invention to particularly close examination because it contains elements of a business methods patent -- a hot-button issue these days.
Along these same lines, Philz has also established a business methods and values program Jaber calls "Philz University," which is an intensive training and development workshop for new employees and managers.
The agency cannot predict how the new administration will view a revival of legislation that tries to define a "business method" invention.
Mr. Dickinson said the examiners who analyze and approve patents would be required to search databases to look for "prior art," or existing evidence of a business method.
Experts say the Texas opinion was certainly the first to apply the new standard to financial services and probably the first to apply it to a business method.
Justice Kennedy, however, wrote that "a business method is simply one kind of 'method' that is, at least in some circumstances, eligible for patenting".
"The notion that two of largest financial companies are adopting a business method pioneered by Enron," she said, "suggests that this movie will not end well".
As such, the patent falls into the controversial category of a business method patent -- the type of patent that Amazon.com, for example, has used to prevent other Web retailers from employing a "one click" check-out method.
A federal court in Massachusetts found that the real subject of the patent was not a "machine" but a business method in data-processing garb, and declared the patent invalid.
Uncertainty over their impact, he said, prompted Congress to add a new layer of protection to patent law last year for people who might be accused of infringing a business method patent.
