Tax Strategy Patents After the America Invents Act

Nichelle Closson (J.D. 2013, Iowa), Note, Tax Strategy Patents After the America Invents Act: The Need for Judicial Action, 38 Iowa J. Corp. L. 159 (2012):

With the passage of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the Act) in September of 2011, tax strategy patents became one of only three types of business methods that Congress has prohibited the Patent and Trademark Office from issuing -- “the other two are medical procedures (because doctors should be able to use any technique [to save a patient's life]) and nuclear technology (for the obvious reasons).” The passage of the Act finally ended years of debate and controversy surrounding the patentability of tax strategies. This Note examines that controversy, gives a general history of U.S. patent law, and also gives a more specific legislative timeline leading up to the Act. This Note then analyzes what will happen to the remaining tax strategy patents that the Act did not revoke, and it ultimately argues that courts should be the ones to decide this issue, and they should choose to invalidate the patents.