Microsoft beats AT&T at Supreme Court

Consistent with the tenor of the oral argument, Microsoft prevailed over AT&T in a case about 35 USC 271(f).

The Scotus blog said: The Supreme Court, in a major victory for Microsoft Corp., ruled by a 7-1 vote on Monday that U.S. patent law does not bar foreign making of copies of digital code to be installed in computers made and sold abroad. Current patent law does not reach that far, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the Court. If patent law is to be adjusted to account for "the realities of software distribution," that is up to Congress, the Court said. Justice John Paul Stevens was the lone dissenter; Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., took no part in the ruling. The case was Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T (05-1056).

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PatentBaristas has some comments. Change in 271(f) is up to Congress.