The Supreme Court said on Monday it would hear the Bilski patent case, which would tell high tech and software companies how far they could go in patenting software, financial strategies and other abstract processes.

An appeals court which specializes in patent cases had ruled in October that the Patent Office was correct in refusing to allow Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw's company Weatherwise to patent a method for hedging against energy cost changes.

That court said the hedging method could not be patented because it was not tied to a machine and did not result in a transformation.

But this seemingly narrow case has implications for any company that hopes to patent a business method. One of the best known examples of a business method patent is Amazon.com Inc's one-click process to buy goods on the Internet.

Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg argued before the high court Monday that counties were inconsistent in the way they decided whether absentee ballots were filled out correctly.

Franken's attorney gets a chance to present his side after Friedberg finishes.

Coleman wants justices to instruct a trial court to open 4,400 rejected absentee ballots.

Franken, potentially a critical 60th Senate vote for Democrats, hopes the court sweeps aside the appeal and is demanding that he get the election certificate required to take office.

There's no telling when Minnesota's highest court will act.

Among other things, Tennessee railroad worker Thurston Hensley sought monetary damages for a fear of developing cancer in the future.

CSX argued that the instructions given to the jury were too friendly to Thurston. The company wanted jurors to be instructed that Thurston needed to demonstrate that his fear of cancer was genuine and serious.

The Supreme Court, in an unsigned opinion, said it was a "clear error" for the trial judge not to give the jury instructions CSX requested.

The high court sent the case back for new court proceedings.

The Assembly's 28-14 vote — the bare two-thirds majority needed — followed the state Senate's vote a day earlier to enact the measure into state lawbooks over the conservative Republican governor's objections.

The bill provides that domestic partners have the same rights as married couples in matters such as community property and responsibility for debts. It also prohibits discrimination against domestic partners.

Critics contended that domestic partners can sign private contracts to accomplish many of the goals of the bill, and that it conflicted with the intent of Nevadans who voted in 2002 for a constitutional amendment supporting marriage between a man and a woman.

The measure states, among other things, that no "solemnization ceremony" is required and it's "left to the dictates and conscience of partners entering into a domestic partnership" whether to have such a ceremony.

The top court said that Lee Kun-hee was not guilty, reiterating a judgment made by the Seoul High Court last year. The charges stemmed from long-standing allegations of dubious financial transactions purportedly aimed at transferring corporate control from Lee to his son.

In a related case, the court threw out convictions of two Samsung executives who had been found guilty of selling convertible bonds to Lee's children at prices less-than-market value.

The court said that it could not find that the executives had violated breach of trust laws in the case and sent it back to the Seoul High Court for reconsideration.

Critics had said the sale was aimed at enabling Lee to hand over control of the Samsung Group to his son Jae-yong, now an executive at Samsung Electronics Co.

The elder Lee, who led South Korea's biggest industrial conglomerate for 20 years, was convicted last year of tax evasion and given a suspended prison term.

Lee is a South Korean corporate icon who has personified Samsung. He succeeded his father as chairman and is widely credited with turning the group's flagship, Samsung Electronics, into a global brand.

Lee was indicted in April last year following a probe by special prosecutors into allegations of wrongdoing aired by a former Samsung lawyer. The indictment prompted Lee to quit as chairman of Samsung Electronics.

The opinion was requested by Gov. Jack Markell, who has signed a bill that would make Delaware the only state east of the Rocky Mountains to offer sports wagering.

In a 22-page ruling dated Wednesday, the court says the state constitution permits lotteries that have an element of skill, as long as chance is the predominant factor in winning or losing.

The justices also say the proposed sports lottery satisfies the constitutional requirement that lotteries be under state control.

The NFL opposes the lottery and has said it may challenge the bill in court.