Breaking New Ground

A watershed event occurred in the world of patent law last July. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in the case of State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group Inc. that put to bed such important patent questions as whether a patent can be granted for the way you do business and whether you can receive a patent for software. The answer to both questions is now yes.

Tomima Edmark, the woman famous for her Topsy Tail invention has now turned her creative talents to the competitive retail arena of intimate apparel, HerRoom and HisRoom.

This article was originally published in the May 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Breaking New Ground.