Patents Gone Wild: An Ethical Examination and Legal Analysis of Tax-Related and Tax Strategy Patents

During the last year, tax professionals have become increasingly concerned over the patenting of tax strategies. A tax strategy patent (TSP) is a patent in which the creator claims to invent a financial structure or product that is used in a strategy or process to reduce taxes and which make claims with respect to the underlying tax strategies. A number of professional groups, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), have publicly opposed the patenting of tax strategies. In Part II the authors examine the ethical responsibilities of tax professionals and the ethical conflicts posed by tax-related patents and TSPs. In Part III they discuss some of the basics of patent law with a focus on the issue of patentable subject matter and the emergence of business method patents. In Part IV they examine tax-related patents and TSPs by creating seven conceptual categories.