On September 6, 2012, the Modernist published an article in which he intimated that the "the only recent Supreme Court decision relating to software patent law" supports Google's (GOOG) defense in its upcoming trial with Vringo (VRNG). This is an utterly tortured interpretation of the law. I write to debunk the Modernist's legal interpretations and conclusions and present a more accurate and fulsome interpretation of potentially relevant Supreme Court precedent.

The Supreme Court case referenced by the Modernist is Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 132 S. Ct. 1289, 1291, 182 L. Ed. 2d 321 (2012). From the outset, the Modernist is incorrect to characterize the Mayo decision as relating to software patent law. It does not. The Mayo case involved "diagnostic tests that embody the processes the patents describe." Id. In addition, the Modernists fails to acknowledge that the Mayo decision did not involve the defense of "prior art" but dealt with the legal proposition that laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable subject matter under § 101 of the Patent Act. Id. These two facts alone reveal the error in the Modernist's article. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE