| Patents have been an accepted method of encouraging research and development. In the recent past "the scope of technologies that can be patented has been increased to include, among other things, gene sequences, computer programs and methods of doing business (Hunt and Bessen 2004)." Business Methods patents have witnessed very rapid growth since the 1998 State Street case (149 F.3d 1368, 1998) outcome which held that there is no patentable subject matter exception for method of doing business (Allison and Hunter 2006). In other words, business methods are now considered patentable subject matter. This paper examines, whether or not there has been a positive impact in innovation, in particular from the Banking industry, which prior to the State Street Bank case was more restricted from obtaining patents for internal banking process innovations. The hypothesis of this dissertation is that business methods would have results that are similar to the Bessen and Hunt (2007) software study which found that software patents were a substitute for R&D; and contradicted the popular belief of incentive theory. This empirical work in the area of business method patents is fundamental to understanding this new area of patenting. |
