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Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods.

在过去的十年中，成千上万的商业方法被授予了专利权。

Amazon. com received one for its "one-click" online payment system.

亚马逊网站获得的专利是在线"单击"付费系统。

Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy.

美林公司的资产分配方案得到了法律保护。

One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box.

某位发明者的提箱技巧也获得了专利。

Now the nation's top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago.

现在，该国最高专利法院似乎完全准备好要缩减商业方法专利，因为商业方法专利自从十年前第一次批准授予以来一直有争议。

In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz the U. S. court of Appeals for the federal circuit said it would use a particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents.

在一项使得知识产权律师们议论纷纷的提议中，美国联邦巡回上诉法院声称它将利用某个具体案件来对商业方法专利进行广泛的复审。

In re Bilski, as the case is known , is "a very big deal", says Dennis D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of law.

密苏里大学法学院 Dennis D. Crouch 说，"正如人们所知道的那样，Bilski案例是一 件非常大的事情"

It "has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents. "

它"可能将消除整个专利类别"。

Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the federal circuit itself that introduced such patents with is 1998 decision in the so-called state Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets.

对于商业方法诉求的限制是个戏剧性的彻底变化，因为正是联邦巡回法院自己引进了这种专利。那是在 1998 年，对于所谓的美国道富银行的案件中，联邦巡回法院做出了判决，批准了筹集共同基金资产的方法具有专利权。

That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging internet companies trying to stake out exclusive rights to specific types of online transactions.

这一裁决使得商业方法专利文件以几何数级增加，起初只是一些新兴的网络公司对于某些特定类型的在线交易系统试图争取独家专有权。

Later, more established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch.

后来，更多的知名公司竞相添加这样的专利权，希望这样的防御性的行为可以先下手为强。

In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them.

2005 年，IBM公司在一份法院报告中声称：尽管怀疑这种专利授权的法律基础，但它已经申请了300多份商业方法专利。

Similarly, some Wall Street investment firms armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.

同样，当一些华尔街投资公司出席某些反对其金融产品的法庭案件时，他们会给其各类金融产品申请专利来作为自己的维权武器。

The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market.

前面提到的 Bilski 案例牵扯到一份已申请的方法专利，即关于能源市场的风险规避方法（注：也可译为"套期保值或对冲风险"）。

The Federal circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court's judges, rather than a typical panel of three,

美国联邦巡回上诉法院罕见地裁定，该案件将不由三位法官听审，而是由全部十二名法官共同进行。

and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should "reconsider" its State Street Bank ruling.

另外，上诉法院还宣布，它想探讨的另一件事情是是否应该"重审"道富银行的裁决。

The Federal Circuit's action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the supreme Court that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders.

联邦巡回法院的这一裁决效仿了最高法院。最高法院最近做出了一系列的判决，缩小了专利持有者的受保范围。

Last April, for example the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for "inventions" that are obvious.

例如，去年四月，法官们认定太多的专利授予了一些显而易见的"发明"。

The judges on the Federal circuit are "reacting to the anti-patent trend at the Supreme Court", says Harold C. Wegner, a patent attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.

乔治华盛顿大学法律学院的专利法律师 Harold C. Wegner 教授表示，"联邦巡回法院的法官们正在对最高法院的反专利动态做出反应"。