Court weighs whether to restrict 'business method' patents
Legal News Center
Is a baseball pitcher's method for throwing a curveball patentable? How about a chiropractor's techniques?
A federal appeals court wrestled with those kinds of questions Thursday when it considered placing restrictions on patent protections for business practices. The case under review is being closely watched by financial services and software companies.
The number of patents on tax preparation strategies, investment techniques and other business methods has surged since 1998, when the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opened the door to such claims.
That increase has led to widespread criticism that many of the patents, including one about how to teach golf lessons, are frivolous and spur excessive litigation.
The Federal Circuit said in February that it would reconsider its decade-old decision in a case that many patent experts say is one of the most important in years. Depending on how broadly the court rules, the case could make it harder for investment banks and software companies to patent their products.
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.