Microsoft Corp., (MSFT) Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and L.L. Bean Inc. are just some of the companies that have flooded the Supreme Court with advice as it prepares for Monday’s arguments over one of the biggest questions involving intellectual property: When can a business method be patented?

There has been a surge in companies receiving patents for ways of doing business, from Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) one-click checkout to Priceline.com Inc.’s (PCLN) reverse auctions, since a 1998 court decision expanded the scope of processes that could be patented.

The Supreme Court must now determine whether such swaths of modern business activity deserve patent protections, thereby opening the door to infringement lawsuits, or belong in the public domain, depriving their inventors of monopoly profits.

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Motorola (MOT) shares are getting a boost from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Tai Liani, who this morning raised his rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral, setting a price target of $9, up from $7.

He cites four reasons for the upgrade, most of which boil down to a belief that the company is on the verge of staging a turnaround in its troubled handset business:

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A provocative story from Reuters Monday ruminated on which companies are likely to replace Citigroup (C) and General Motors (GM) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Its conclusion: Google (GOOG) and Cisco (CSCO) are the most likely contenders, with Apple (AAPL) and Visa (V) having a less likely chance.

It’s a safe bet that those two troubled companies–trading below $2 a share–will get the boot, potentially along with Bank of America (BAC), which is trading below $4. All are plagued by concerns that bankruptcies or government takeovers would wipe out shareholders. Talk of a reshuffling of the Dow has been heating up of late.

Does Google belong in the Dow? I think it does for a few reasons. According to Dow Jones’ explanation of the indexes composition, “a stock typically is added only if it has an excellent reputation, demonstrates sustained growth, is of interest to a large number of investors and accurately represents the sector(s) covered by the average.”

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If the economy is going to slow (which it is) and the jobless rate is going rise (which it is), you can safely conclude that people will be traveling less. That’s the core idea behind the call on the online travel sites by Bank of America’s Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald, who today chopped their estimates and price targets on Orbitz (OWW), Expedia (EXPE) and Priceline (PCLN).

• Orbitz: Target to $5, from $8. EPS estimate for 2008 to loss of 17 cents from loss of 15 cents; 2009 to loss of seven cents from positive 19 cents.
• Expedia: Target to $19, from $30; 2008 to $1.38 from $1.40; 2009 to $1.42, from $1.59.
• Priceline: Target to $90, from $154; 2008 to $5.43, from $5.75; 2009 to $5.80, from $7.15.

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Every cloud has a silver lining. Ask the cybersquatters. Even as the short-selling vultures began circling Lehman Brothers, HBOS, Merrill Lynch and company, a legion of entrepreneurs began betting on domain names for hastily merged financial institutions. For example, when Barclays and Bank of America began to emerge as buyers for Lehman, names such as barclayslehman.com and bofalehman.com were promptly registered by enterprising hopefuls.

Some of these domains were being offered for sale on eBay last week. For example, www.bankofamericamerrilllynch.com was available at a starting bid of $1,500. “With a deal between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch NOW ANNOUNCED,” burbled the seller, “this domain name will soon be incredibly popular. This is the only domain name that conveys the full picture, using the name of both firms. … This is the most comprehensive and commonsensical domain name available concerning the MERGER OF BANK OF AMERICA CORP AND MERRILL LYNCH & CO.” The last time your columnist checked, however, the auction had attracted no bidders. Still–nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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Bank of America’s Sumit Dhanda this morning upped his rating on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to Neutral from Sell, setting a price target of $6. “Having been consistently cautious on the stock since early 2006, we now believe that our thesis has largely played out–share losses to Intel (INTC), persistent pressure on cash flow/profitability, strain on the balance sheet–and that the stock has limited downside risk from current levels.”

He says longer-term headwinds remain, but that there are potential catalysts in the short-to-intermediate term, including improved free cash flow generation with the potential to reach break-even by Q4, reduced stress on the balance sheet as it finally shifts to an asset-lite strategy, and improved product uptake.

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