The New York Times reports,
Although patent litigation is not new in the technology world, these suits, specifically around mobile, point to the drastically changing mobile landscape. Lawyers I spoke with explained that mobile technology was still in its infancy and these large computing companies were trying to stake their claim [...]
As reported yesterday, Apple is suing HTC for infringing on twenty iPhone related patents. HTC makes mobile phones and smartphones including Google’s Nexus One and phones sold by Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile (1, 2) running Google’s Android operating system.
Below are the complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware and with the U.S. International Trade [...]
“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
via Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement - Barrons.com.
Another site to search prior art and scholarly articles:
Social Science Research Network SSRN Home Page.
A recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers study suggests that nonpracticing entities (NPE), more commonly referred to as patent trolls, are thriving.
The largest award went to Dr. Bruce Saffran who, in 2008, was awarded nearly $432 million in damages (and, not reported in the study, another $69 million in pre-judgment interest awarded by the judge after the trial). A [...]
http://live.gizmodo.com/
The claim and continuation rules that were supposed to go into effect on November 1, 2007 are dying a slow death… thankfully.
via Law.com - PTO Rescinds Controversial Patent Rules.
After consistently rejecting applications at a rate of about 35% since 1975, the Patent Office — faced with a growing backlog — underwent a convulsive shift around 2004 and now turns down well over half. In the quarter that ended June 30, it denied more than 59%.
via jsonline.com “Patent rejections soar as pressure on agency rises“.
So, will we see lawsuits for infringement, not of the patents that are sold, but for determining how much to sell them for?
7,493,262 Method for valuing intellectual property
7,386,460 System and method for developing and implementing intellectual property marketing
7,346,545 Method and system for payment of intellectual property royalties by interposed sponsor on behalf of consumer over [...]
Rambus replied that the game is hardly over.
via eWeek.com Nvidia Scores Win Against Rambus in Patent Fight.
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.
TOP 10 Litigation Wins of 2008
via TOP 10 Litigation Wins of 2008.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Friday in a split decision that the Patent and Trademark Office did not overstep its authority in adopting a set of new rules that some intellectual property lawyers say fundamentally alter patent practice and threaten innovation.
via Law.com - Federal Circuit Sides With PTO in Dispute [...]
EPC Rule 36:
(1) The applicant may file a divisional application relating to any pending earlier European patent application.
(2) A divisional application shall be in the language of the proceedings for the earlier application and shall be filed with the European Patent Office in Munich, The Hague or Berlin.
Method claim 1 does not recite any machine or apparatus or call for transforming an article into a different state or thing. A domain name is simply a series of characters representing the address of a resource, such as a server, on the World Wide Web.
Links: Ex parte Atkin.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office predicts that patent application filings will continue to increase to over 600,000 a year in 2012. Furthermore, there may be a backlog of around 1.4 million patents.
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 [...]
The legal point to consider from this case is that the PTO will apply its “broadest reasonable” claim interpretation during its §101 analysis. Here, the BPAI panel found that the broadest reasonable interpretation of IBM’s claim does not necessarily “require computer or machine implementation” and thus that the claim fails the “tied to a particular [...]
PatentlyO:
BPAI: “Programmed Computer Method” Not Patentable Subject Matter
Software Method Claims: Bilski in light of Benson
Post-Bilski BPAI Approves of Beauregard Claims
Applying Bilski to Metabolite’s Diagnosis Claim
Applying Bilski to Biotechnology and the Life Sciences
Bilski: Adding Obvious but Meaningful Limitations
Professor Collins: In re Bilski: Tangibility Gone “Meta”
CLE: How to Draft Software Claims under Bilski
Patenting Tax Strategies Under Bilski
In [...]