![handle is hein.journals/okjolt5 and id is 1 raw text is:
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5 OKLA. J.L. & Tech. 42 (2009)
wwwokjo1t.org
DO THE EVOLUTION
THE EFFECT OF KSR V. TELEFLEX ON BIOTECHNOLOGY
@ 2008 Josh Harrison
I. Introduction
In KSR v. Teleflex, the Supreme Court issued one of the most significant decisions
dealt to intellectual property law in decades.' The ruling effectively restructures the
approach used by courts to determine whether a claimed invention is non-obvious, a
historically ambiguous and ill-defined condition to obtaining a patent.2
Biotechnology, or biotech, represents the forefront, both present and future, of
modern medicine, agriculture, and energy.3 Its growth and evolution as a science and as
a technology is essential to the enrichment and increased well-being of humanity as a
whole.4 Because its funding stems primarily from private investors, biotechnology relies
on consistent and dependable patent protection to sustain its progress and development.5
1 See, e.g., Harold C. Wegner, Making Sense of KSR and Other Recent Patent Cases, 106 MICH. L. REV.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS 39, 39 (2007), http://www.michiganlawreview.org/
firstimpressions/voll06/wegner.pdf (For long-range importance in patent law, KSR stands alone as the
single most important Supreme Court patent decision on the bread and butter standard of 'obviousness' in
the more than forty years since the 1966 Graham v. John Deere.).
2 Clara R. Cottrell, Note, The Supreme Court Brings a Sea Change with KSR International Co. v. Teleflex,
Inc., 42 WAKE FOREST L. REV. 595, 596 (2007) ([A] patent attorney can spend five minutes describing the
first three patent requirements, but the next five days defining and explaining the obviousness
requirement.).
3 See, e.g., BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION, NEW BIOTECH TOOLS FOR A CLEANER
ENVIRONMENT (June 2004) (discussing the evolution and potential for industrial biotechnology);
BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION, BIOTECHNOLOGY'S IMPACT ON DISEASES OF THE ELDERLY: A
WHITE PAPER (Sept. 2000) (discussing the current impact and promise of biotech medicines and foods in
treating a range of age-related diseases).
4 See, e.g., Deval Patrick & Therese Murray, The Promise ofBiotech, BOSTON GLOBE, May 9, 2007,
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial-opinion/oped/articles/2007/ 05/09/the-promise of biotech
(You cannot be in the company of someone you love, powerless to help them, without appreciating the
vital importance of stem cell research and other biomedical breakthroughs. In many ways, the health of
this industry and the health of our society are closely linked.); Florence Wambugu, Why Africa Needs](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/okjolt5&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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