As in all areas of Law, Patent Law evolves over time and is molded by cases decided in the Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit Courts.  According to “Patent Law and Practice, Sixth Edition” by Herbert F. Schwartz and Robert J. Goldman, here are the major cases currently impacting patent law:

• In re Bilski (2008, Fed. Cir. en banc), in which the Federal Circuit established a new standard for the patentability of business method processes and algorithms.
• eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, LLC (2006,S.Ct.), in which the Supreme Court overturned the test applied by the Federal Circuit relating to the availability of permanent injunctions in patent litigation
• MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. (2007, S.Ct), in which the Supreme Court expanded the availability of declaratory judgment jurisdiction for companies seeking to challenge the patent of another
• KSR Int’l v. Teleflex, Inc., (2007, S.Ct), in which the Supreme Court revisited the law of invalidity for obviousness for the first time in a generation, revising the standard applied by the Federal Circuit since the 1980s
• In re Seagate Tech., LLC (2007, Fed. Cir. en banc), in which the Federal Circuit reversed 24 years of decisions and established a new standard for assessing willful infringement, a precursor to an award of increased damages and attorneys’ fees Critical new issues addressed.

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Officially known as the Examination for Registration to Practice in Patent Cases Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office,  the Patent Bar Exam is a 100 question, six-hour long behemoth with a 50% pass rate.  Having passed it, I am now “pending registration” by the USPTO.  Basically, there is an oath and some money that I own them, but in approximately 7 weeks I should receive my registration number, then I can officially represent clients before the USPTO in patent cases.  Since I have not passed a state bar exam yet (pending graduating with my JD around 2011), I will be classified as a Patent Agent.