The above excerpt of § 101 is the basis of patent law in the U.S. With the exception of a small modification in 1952, § 101 has remained virtually unchanged since written by Thomas Jefferson. Until recent times, the statute gathered little attention. However, with the addition of software and business method patents in the 1980’s, the statute has been the subject of dispute. Until about 1981, the U.S. Patent Office held that steps performed by a computer were unpatentable under at least § 101. However, in Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175 (1981), the Supreme Court overruled the Patent Office and held that, though an algorithm and the like are abstract and unpatentable, the fact that an otherwise patentable process is carried out on a computer does not make it unpatentable.

As a result, to this day, software and business method patents are often written in a roundabout manner. For example, Einstein could not patent his famous E=MC2 formula because this is considered an abstract law of nature. However, claim a method of determining the mass of an object based on measurements of light passing through the object, and you have probably at least overcome § 101.

If the difference between the first and second example seem fuzzy, it is because it is. A patent is nothing less than the creation of a property right from an intangible concept, and it is no easy task to define the boundary of an intangible right. King Solomon said, “. . . that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Yet, the Supreme Court famously ruled, “anything new under the sun made by man” is patentable. Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303, 309 (1980), quoting S.Rep.No 1979, 82d Cong., 2d Sess., 5 (1952).

For the past 30 years, the Patent Office and the courts have defined and redefined the difference between a patentable process and an abstract concept. No test has ever stood the test of time. A colleague of mine filed a patent we both knew the Patent Office was likely to reject under § 101. He retorted, “Who knows what the law will be in three years when the Patent Office finally examines this application?”

One of the presently used tests was stated by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in State Street Bank & Trust Co. Here, it was found that an idea is patentable if it produces a useful, concrete and tangible result. State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, 149 F.3d 1368 (Fed. Cir. Jul. 23, 1998). However in 2006 Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito noted, “this Court has never made such a statement and, if taken literally, the statement would cover instances where this Court has held the contrary. " Lab Corp. v. Metabolite, 548 U.S. ___ (2006) (referring to O'Reilly v. Morse, 15 How. 62 (1854) for Morse code).

Meanwhile, while the U.S. Patent Office’s Interim Guidelines for Examination of Patent Applications for Patent Subject Matter Eligibility (2005) generally follow the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Patent Office Appeals Board in Bilski distinguished State Street, as only applying to “machine implemented” processes (contradicting State Street itself). The decision, complete with an excerpt from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, is nothing less than a demand that the Federal Circuit’s test be overturned, perhaps, in a bid to decrease that Patent Office’s seven-year backlog for business method patent applications. The Supreme Court may agree.

The Bilski opinion is in the process of being heard en banc at the Federal Circuit, but the issue over whether to draw the line between a man-made discovery versus an abstract concept will likely remain a controversy for a long time to come.

Michael J. Feigin, Esq. is a Patent & Trademark Attorney and can be reached via his website at http://PatentLawNY.com or http://PatentLawNY.com

If you missed Part 1 or Part 3 of this series, simply send a blank email to googlearticle@superiormarketingpartners.com to get a all three parts of this series of articles emailed back to you automatically.

Secret #4 - Make separate AdGroups for each keyword within Google Adwords

Google Adwords lets you create up to 25 campaigns per account, with up to 100 AdGroups per campaign as of this writing. It's important to organize your keywords into separate AdGroups to maintain finer control over the ad text for each keyword. If you had one AdGroup for the following keywords: 'widgets', 'plastic widgets', and 'wooden widgets', then the ads created for that AdGroup would have to apply to all of the above keywords.

If your ad text reads: "50% off all plastic widgets" and this ad is showing for the other keyword phrases in the same AdGroup, then someone searching for 'wooden widgets' probably will not be inclined to click on your ad that is focused on people searching for 'plastic widgets'.

The way to be sure each ad is focused on the exact keyword phrase being targeted is to have a separate AdGroup within your Google Adwords account for each keyword phrase, and ad text that exactly matches that phrase. For example, an AdGroup named 'Plastic Widgets' with the keywords 'plastic widget' and 'plastic widgets' can have an ad with text that reads "50% off all plastic widgets" and the people searching for 'plastic widgets' will see the ad most relevant to their search term. Create a separate AdGroup for 'wooden widgets', etc. Now you can create ads with text that matches the exact keyword phrase for which people are searching.

Secret #5 - Run tons of keywords in Google Adwords

Most people that have Google Adwords accounts find the top keyword phrases for their industry and run ads for only those keywords. This is a big mistake. The top keywords are the ones that have the most competition and also the lowest click-thru rates. Smart Google Adwords marketers know that the more specific a keyword phrase is the more people will click on the ad. People that search for a keyword like 'widgets' are more likely to skip over an ad targeting such a broadly targeted keyword. However, 'large plastic widgets' is much more of a refined search and there are far fewer advertisers with ads that target that phrase so you get the double benefit of having fewer ads in competition with yours and you can also run ad text that exactly matches that keyword phrase!

Doing keyword research and compiling a large list of keywords may be time consuming, but you will run rings around your competition if you are willing to do what they are not.

Secret #6 - Split-test your ads in Google Adwords

As mentioned in Part 1 of this series of articles on Google Adwords, it is critical to split-test your ads. Google Adwords has a built-in feature that lets you automatically rotate the appearance of your ads so different ads can be shown an equal number of times (or weighted more heavily toward the ad that gets more clicks if you prefer - you can change this in the campaign settings). The benefit of this approach is that you will be able to see which ad gets a better click-thru rate (CTR).

Since Google Adwords rewards a higher CTR with lower cost per click (CPC), it is crucial that you know which ad has a better CTR. Sometimes just swapping the ad text that appears on lines 2 and 3 will make a big difference in your ad performance.

Secret #7 - Improve your ads in Google Adwords

So what do you do if you find that after split-testing two different ads a clear winner emerges? Simple. Chuck the lower CTR ad, keep the winner, and create a new ad to split-test against the current reigning champion. By following this split-test strategy, you will constantly be improving your ads CTR and lowering your CPC.

How do you know when a clear winner has emerged? Is it enough to have two ads that both have received 10 clicks each? Or should you wait until you have 100 clicks each before making the determination that one ad is superior to the other? Statistically, a total of 100 clicks between the two ads will mean the answer is fairly certain, while 200 clicks between both ads is an almost definite certainty.

What's stopping you from finding qualified, motivated buyers and getting them to your website when they are ready to buy? There is no better marketplace for this steady stream of valuable traffic than with Google Adwords. By employing the tips and strategies outlined in this series of articles, you will be armed to the teeth to convert those hard earned dollars spent on Google Adwords into profits for your online business!

Ron Isaiah is an expert online marketer. Get free eBooks, mini-courses, tips and tricks by visiting http://www.superiormarketingpartners.com.

At one of my moments of unrest on the way home from Jenn's, "Won't Go Home Without You" By Maroon 5 came on the radio.  I wanted to shoot someone.

It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you

Of all the things I felt but never really shown
Perhaps the worst is that I ever let you go
I should not ever let you go, oh oh oh

Ironically, after it was over, Love Stinks came on afterwards.  I disagree.

Old trees have been planted since the period of French rule on the two sides of Hoang Van Thu Street in HCM City. The city is now trying to figure out how to preserve the trees while keeping traffic safe. — VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tung

HCM CITY — HCM City authorities are worried about how to preserve old trees around the city while ensuring road-users’ safety at the same time given branches and trees themselves fell during the recent rains.

The storm early last Friday uprooted a diep tree aged over 100 years with a trunk 1.5m across.

The mishap damaged most of the electricity cables on Tran Hung Dao Street in District 1 and caused a portion of the outer wall of a police office to collapse.

Earlier the same day a 30m dau tree was uprooted in front of a house at 1433 Ba Thang Hai Street in District 11.

Just 20m away, another dau tree fell on a house owned by a person named Ly To.

To said he had narrowly escaped death by scurrying away as soon as he heard rumbling sounds. Immediately afterwards a large brick had landed exactly where he had been sitting and watching TV, he said.

Ho Thi Nga, whose house at 207 Nguyen Kim Street in District 10 has a 100-year-old dau tree in front, said, "The life of my family hangs by a thread when living near an old tree."

"The tree’s branches have repeatedly crashed down on the street," she said. "We have petitioned local authorities to cut it down or clip the branches, but none has so far come to handle our complaints."

Many old trees with luxuriant canopies on Ly Thuong Kiet and An Duong Vuong Street have tilted to one side and face a serious risk of falling any time.

Experts’ views

Experts say old trees standing by themselves on streets are at a higher risk of collapse than those in clusters in parks.

Authorities do not pay adequate care to old trees, they say, pointing to the fact that every tree gets the same periodic care based merely on the number of yellow leaves or manifestation of plant diseases.

They also say the procedure to treat diseased trees is "cumbersome and time-consuming."

Dr Tran Quang Diep of the HCM City University of Agriculture and Forestry says old trees need special care and constant surveillance.

Regular tending of the trees must be done using machines to exactly diagnose their status in terms of hollowness and diseases, he adds.

Dr Ngo An of the same university says a significant number of green trees in the city are suffering from age, diseases, hollowness and tilting, warning more of them would collapse if the checking remains in its current crude form.

It is possible to minimise the damage caused by tree collapses if their management is more scientific, he says.

Many experts say trees can only serve up to a certain age, emphasising the need to prescribe age limits for each species before cutting them down.

Old trees should only be conserved when they are grown in parks or on historic streets, they say. —