I refer you to the awful and smart patent troll promoter Gene Quinn:
"How long will it take the Federal Circuit to overrule this inexplicable nonsense? The novice reader may find that question to be ignorant, since the Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States. Those well acquainted with the industry know that the Supreme Court is not the final word on patentability, and while the claims at issue in this particular case are unfortunately lost, the Federal Circuit will work to moderate (and eventually overturn) this embarrassing display by the Supreme Court. This will eventually be accomplished the same as it was after the Supreme Court definitively ruled software is not patentable in Gottschalk v. Benson, and the same as the ruling in KSR v. Teleflex will be overruled. I have taken issue with Chief Judge Rader’s statements that nothing has changed in Federal Circuit jurisprudence as a result of KSR, which is not technically true. What is true, however, is that the Federal Circuit continues to refine the KSR “common sense test,” narrowing the applicability in case after case and tightening the ability for “common sense” to be used against an application. We are almost 5 years post KSR and there is still a lot of work left to be done by the Federal Circuit to finally overrule the Supreme Court’s KSR decision. It took almost 10 years to overrule Gottschalk v. Benson, so we are likely in for a decade of work to moderate the nonsense thrust upon the industry this morning."[0]
No court is subordinate to any other in the American system. Higher courts can overrule lower courts, but cannot subordinate them or force them to follow dictates or discipline judges. So-called precedent is an artificial social convention among judges that the CAFC judges reject. [1]
The Supreme Court doesn't have the time or interest to assert itself against the CAFC. When it does take a case, the Supreme Court often overturns decisions unanimously and expresses frustration in its opinions, but that doesn't mean the Supremes are about to start taking 50 or 100 patent cases a year and making any real difference.
"How long will it take the Federal Circuit to overrule this inexplicable nonsense? The novice reader may find that question to be ignorant, since the Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States. Those well acquainted with the industry know that the Supreme Court is not the final word on patentability, and while the claims at issue in this particular case are unfortunately lost, the Federal Circuit will work to moderate (and eventually overturn) this embarrassing display by the Supreme Court. This will eventually be accomplished the same as it was after the Supreme Court definitively ruled software is not patentable in Gottschalk v. Benson, and the same as the ruling in KSR v. Teleflex will be overruled. I have taken issue with Chief Judge Rader’s statements that nothing has changed in Federal Circuit jurisprudence as a result of KSR, which is not technically true. What is true, however, is that the Federal Circuit continues to refine the KSR “common sense test,” narrowing the applicability in case after case and tightening the ability for “common sense” to be used against an application. We are almost 5 years post KSR and there is still a lot of work left to be done by the Federal Circuit to finally overrule the Supreme Court’s KSR decision. It took almost 10 years to overrule Gottschalk v. Benson, so we are likely in for a decade of work to moderate the nonsense thrust upon the industry this morning."[0]
No court is subordinate to any other in the American system. Higher courts can overrule lower courts, but cannot subordinate them or force them to follow dictates or discipline judges. So-called precedent is an artificial social convention among judges that the CAFC judges reject. [1]
The Supreme Court doesn't have the time or interest to assert itself against the CAFC. When it does take a case, the Supreme Court often overturns decisions unanimously and expresses frustration in its opinions, but that doesn't mean the Supremes are about to start taking 50 or 100 patent cases a year and making any real difference.
[0] http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2012/03/20/supreme-court-mayo-v-pr...
[1] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-a-rogue-appea...