The case originally centered on a patent for "a method of managing the risk of bad weather through commodities trading"—which falls more under the "business process" bucket, but the same ruling effectively makes patenting a specific software process impossible. The previous ruling allowed such patents, so long as computers were involved and the process produced a "useful, concrete, and tangible result." This ruling rejects that premise, favoring instead an older test that only allows patents for things involving an actual machine or a transformation of a tangible object into a different state.

So basically, for the moment, our patent law has been brought back to the 19th century. But a shift in this direction for more of a compromise will help curb the ridiculous, constant, non-stop patent war, along with the associated big-time litigation and the shaft that gets handed down to open-source projects trying to abide by the laws.

Either way, this case is almost certainly headed for the Supreme Court. [eweek]

In return for a $200 million strategic investment from Microsoft back in 2000, Best Buy promised to sign up customers to MSN when they bought a computer. Best Buy would grant the customer a free six-month MSN subscription, but they would use the buyer's credit card to secure the automatic re-bill of the subscription. In other words, they were transmitting customer credit cards and personal information to Microsoft. A 2003 lawsuit filed by James Odom alleged that this was, in fact, wire fraud.

The lawsuit has snowballed into a major class-action suit, with thousands of plaintiffs and potentially tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The Supreme Court decision didn't actually rule on the case, but it did confirm the legal legitimacy of the suit. [AP/Yahoo]

This means that class-action lawsuits will indeed be able to go froward, arguing that manufacturers knew about and hid the risks of radiation emissions wireless phones posed to users. Obviously, nobody knows yet what, if any, impact wireless products will have on our health. And I may be the only moron around without an earpiece, But have certainly heard the rumblings from health advocates expressing concern over the frequency radiation that come from wireless phones and radios. Right now five lawsuits have been filed and one will go forward in federal court while the others will go forward in state court.

The big worry for the wireless companies?

The wireless industry is worried about being required to adhere to numerous different emissions requirements imposed by states, something the service providers and manufacturers argue would wreak havoc on the industry and consumers.

US high court won't hear wireless radiation appeal [Reuters]