Popular Science Archive Is Online - All 137 Years!
The entire 137-year archive of Popular Science is available online! Thanks Google!
The entire 137-year archive of Popular Science is available online! Thanks Google!
http://live.gizmodo.com/
May 26, 1981: Programmer-Attorney Wins First U.S. Software Patent
via May 26, 1981: Programmer-Attorney Wins First U.S. Software Patent | This Day In Tech | Wired.com.
Link: U.S. Patent No. 4,270,182.
A utility application can claim the benefit of a design application, and a design application can claim the benefit of a utility application:
Where the conditions of 35 U.S.C. 120 are met, a design application may be considered a continuing application of an earlier utility application. Conversely, this also applies to a utility application relying on [...]
Q: We filed a patent application (provisional or non-provisional) and have “patent pending” status. Can we show our product to others without having them sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement)?
A: Yes… more or less. If the most important thing to you is building your company, and you have a well written patent application and thorough IP [...]
Josh Kopelman at First Round Capital has a good post on the value of patents after fighting for 8.5 years to get one of his granted. His Half.com (Ebay.com) patent received six rejections, half of them final, before it was allowed. I explain this to clients, particularly software startups, on a daily basis [...]
This patent application from Apple seems to show a four layer arrangement comprising protective glass, an LCD display, a solar panel, and a circuit board. The solar panel receives light passing through the (semi-transparent) LCD display.
Links: MacRumors.com, Patent Application Solar cells on portable devices.
Postulated in 1971, a fourth passive circuit element called a memristor has been invented by a team from HP Labs. Circuit theory books, which will have to be rewritten, teach the existence and use of three passive circuit elements: the resistor, capacitor, and inductor. The memristor, short for memory resistor, changes its resistance [...]
My client, On Deck Capital, officially launched today. Their patent pending financial products and technology improves upon standard credit models to offer performance-based loans to businesses that may not have access to traditional bank financing. On Deck Capital offers business loans up to $100,000 based on the performance of the business, rather [...]
IBM Technical Journals
IBM Research
I recently won U.S. patent no. 7,344,086 for the inventors of an innovative lottery ticket having features that prevent theft. The patent also claims methods for preventing lottery ticket theft. Major lottery ticket suppliers are considering licensing the patent.
Links: U.S. Patent No. US 7,344,086 (pdf, USPTO).
A partial list of who is acquiring, licensing, and enforcing patents:
Acacia Research Corporation
IPotential
Inflexion Point
Altitude Capital Partners
Ocean Tomo
Rembrandt IP Management
NW Patent Funding Corporation
Intellectual Ventures
Gathering2.0 (online community for monetizing IP assets)
Articles:
Patent Attorneys, Clients Banking on IP Brokerages (law.com)
Patent Pirates (forbes.com)
10 Most Bizarre Scientific Papers
(via Very Short List)
The second season of American Inventor premiered last night on ABC. By and large, the show was listless, kept afloat mostly by George Foreman’s smile and enthusiasm for almost everything. However, there were a few notables:
The Creepiest: “My Therapy Buddy” by Richard Kopelle is a deformed blue doll that whispers “everything is going [...]