Bilski v. Kappos: The Blockbuster That Was a Bust

It's estimated that over 11,000 patents apply to various aspects of the internet, and most are so–called business method patents. Over 2,500 patent cases are filed each year, and increasingly, such cases are filed against companies based not on the products they make, but rather based on the fact that they sell products online. And it's not just Amazon that's being sued. Smaller companies like TracRac, a 50-employee company in Fall River, Mass., have found themselves sued for patent infringement concerning their websites, alongside major retailers like L.L.Bean, Office Depot and Williams–Sonoma.