One of the most famous patents of this ilk was the Amazon.com One Click patent, where people could order books or whatever by simply clicking a "buy now" button.  (The buyer's credit card and shipping address was previously entered by the user, so by clicking the button, the card would be charged and the book or whatever shipped.)

The legal issue involves concepts that are little more than ideas (although good ideas). The Appeals Court has apparently embraced the old school concept that patents should be related to machines or provde some process that transforms something into something new.  Anyone with a registered or pending patent regarding a business model should contact their patent attorney at once for clarification. 

Accordingly, many famed business model patents could now come under attack.  It is expected that this ruling will be appealed to the US Supreme Court HOWEVER, stats would show that most such appeals fail. 

 (Shout out to Brett at Chrometa for bringing the ruling to my attention.)