One Reason Why the Supreme Court Should Reverse Bilski

Because if firms could patent business methods -- especially financial engineering -- then these types of disputes would be less costly:

Citadel Investment Group LLC, the $12 billion hedge fund firm founded by Ken Griffin, sued three former executives and the firm they started, Teza Technologies LLC, over claims they violated non-competition agreements.

“This is a case of industrial espionage,” Citadel said in a complaint filed today in Illinois state court in Chicago. The firm seeks a court order barring the individual defendants from conducting any business through Teza or related entities that compete with Citadel, for the duration of the agreements.

Patents are the cheapest way to handle disputes over allocation of the products of human capital.

Click on "Trade Secrets" or "IP Ownership" at right for earlier episodes in this series.