Abstract

The 2010 Bilski decision on business method patents and
intangible methods expressly relies on a trilogy of cases, Benson (1972), Flook (1978) and Diehr (1981). In light of that reliance, it is important to review the 1972 Benson decision in its technological, industrial and legal context. Benson ruled that a presumptively novel algorithm on number conversion useful for computer programming was unpatentable. It postulated without analysis or factual support that algorithms were “ideas.” It then ruled that the claims in question were unpatentable because they covered all practical applications of the algorithm (idea). This essay shows that Benson was driven not by any sound policy analysis but rather by an anti-patent bias prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s and by the interests of the then-dominant computer hardware company (IBM), which was opposed to the creation of an independent software industry.