A case relating to the teaching-suggestion-motivation test to determine non-obviousness is now before the US Supreme Court. Teleflex Incorporated and Technology Holding Company ("Teleflex") sued KSR International Co. ("KSR") for infringement of its patent relating to an adjustable pedal assembly for use with automobiles having engines that are controlled electronically with a device known as an 'electronic throttle control'. The district court held the patent to be invalid as it was obvious in the light of combination of prior art references. On appeal, the Federal Circuit vacated the judgment of the district court by stating that the teaching-suggestion-motivation test was not properly applied. The US Supreme Court has now agreed to hear arguments in this case. Apart from the briefs of Parties in the case, amici briefs have been filed by Microsoft, Cisco Systems Inc., Progress and Freedom foundation and a group of law professors as of June 26, 2006. If the Supreme Court decides the case, it might turn out to be a landmark decision relating to non-obviousness.

Gen-Probe and Bayer settled a four year patent and contract battle, which started with a dispute relating to a collaboration agreement. Gen-Probe agreed to drop its patent infringement suit against Bayer, and agreed to grant immunity to Bayer from legal action on Bayer's current nucleic acid diagnostic tests and future Bayer products using four Gen-Probe patent families. Gen-Probe also waived the legal expenses of 2 million dollars ordered against Bayer by an arbitrator. On the other hand, Bayer granted Gen-Probe immunity from lawsuits on Gen-Probe's current and future Tigris instruments. Additionally, Bayer agreed to pay Gen-Probe a royalty of about 33 million dollars over the next two years.

Indian government has approved a proposal to enter into non-disclosure agreements with patent offices across the world for making the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) a part of the patent examination process. TKDL will be available to patent offices across the world under a non-disclosure agreement. The agreement will provide for confidentiality of the information in TKDL and will limit the use of such information to only patent search and examination purposes. The TKDL will be available in English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese languages. This is a step towards formally integrating Indian traditional knowledge into the patent grant process of various countries.