KSR v. Teleflex: How obvious is obvious?

CHAL 40

Richard G. A. Bone, richardbone@fr.com, Fish and Richardson, PC, 500 Arguello Street, Suite 500, Redwood City, CA 94063
Although a new Supreme Court decision in the area of obviousness is still eagerly awaited, the KSR case highlights where the likely battleground will be. The motivation to combine standard that has been promulgated by the Federal Circuit has been seen by many as an effective lowering of the bar to patentability. I will discuss the background to KSR and assess how a change in the obviousness standard might impact patenting in the chemical arts.