Stephanie Varela’s Note, Damned If You Do, Doomed If You Don’t: Patenting Legal Methods and Its Effect on Lawyers’ Professional Responsibilities, 60 Fla. L. Rev. 1145 (Dec. 2008), won the 2008 Gertrude Brick Prize for Best Note of the Year. 

Her note analyzes whether  legal methods should be patented.  Following the Federal Circuit’s decision in State Street to extend patent protection over business methods, the USPTO has opened a Pandora’s box by endorsing the patentability of tax strategies. Patent protection over other legal methods will likely continue given the USPTO’s interpretation of the Patent Act and its understanding of the State Street doctrine. Varela’s Note argues patent protection should not extend to legal methods in light of the professional responsibilities lawyers owe to clients and to the legal profession.