Published at LXer:

But the more important step in the de facto legalization of software patents came in 1982, when Congress created a new court called the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It was given authority to hear all appeals in patent cases. While the new court was still theoretically under the authority of the Supreme Court, the fact that it heard so many patent cases gave it an outsized influence on patent law. And because the majority of its cases were patent cases, its judges spent a lot of time rubbing elbows with patent attorneys. As a result, it quickly shifted the law in the direction patent attorneys prefer: toward an ever stronger and more expansive patent system.

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