[patent] Forum Topics

[ATTACH=right]16954[/ATTACH]What's a billionaire to do when he's not in the spotlight so much anymore and maybe getting a little, well... bored? Sue everyone that people are paying more attention to than you, that's what! Interval Licensing, the company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is suing nearly every big name …

I found this article from the EFF quite disturbing. What do you say about a company that would want to do this? ... Thoughts? Comments? Scathing Rebuttals?? [url]http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/08/steve-jobs-watching-you-apple-seeking-patent-0[/url]

[ATTACH=RIGHT]21961[/ATTACH]OK, so Apple has successfully [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software/netbooks-tablets-and-mobile-devices/news/376700/1621471"]persuaded a German court to ban the sale of the Galaxy Tab Android tablet[/URL] on the grounds that Samsung has copied the design of the iPad. The legalities of which revolve around [URL="http://www.scribd.com/doc/61944044/Community-Design-000181607-0001"]certificate of registration number 000181607[/URL] in the Community Designs Register that protects the …

[ATTACH=RIGHT]16788[/ATTACH]If you’re a petty thief, an iPhone must look like a mobile Mona Lisa. Their sleek design, variety of features, portability, coveted ownership, and lofty price make for an appealing and readily available target. But scum of the earth pay heed: Apple filed for a patent yesterday (August 19th) to …

A lawsuit filed against Facebook in 2008 has had its day in court -- and lost. [ATTACH=RIGHT]16247[/ATTACH]Ohio-based [URL="http://www.leader.com/"]Leader Technologies[/URL] filed suit against Facebook, charging that it had infringed on their 2006 patent for "a method and system for the management and storage of electronic information” developed by the company's founder, …

"After years of pretending to be a friend of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), IBM now shows its true colors. IBM breaks the number one taboo of the FOSS community and shamelessly uses its patents against a well-respected FOSS project, the Hercules mainframe emulator." Those are [URL="http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2010/04/ibm-breaks-taboo-and-betrays-its.html"]the words of …

So just how many great ideas did you have last year? IBM managed to come up with 4895 during the course of 2009 that were good enough to be granted patents from the US Patent and Trademarks Office, cementing the Big Blue reputation as being King of the Patents. That …

Sony Computer Entertainment America has filed a patent application, number [URL="http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=2&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=laugh&OS=laugh&RS=laugh"]20090195392[/URL], which could lead to a PlayStation controller that knows when you are happy, sad or just plain angry. The patent application is officially for a 'laugh detector and system and method for tracking an emotional response to a media …

A company that has been attempting to obtain licensing fees from adult companies, as well as other providers such as Internet radio stations and leading satellite and cable companies such Echostar, DirectTV, Time Warner Cable, and CSC Holdings, Inc., has had its [URL="http://www.eff.org/files/acacia-patent-invalidated.pdf"]patent thrown out[/URL] by the U.S. District Court …

A company has been awarded a patent for providing episodic media downloads, which essentially gives it a patent on all forms of podcasting. The company, VoloMedia, calls itself the "leading provider of advertising and reporting solutions for portable media, extending the reach of video and audio from the PC to …

Kaspersky Lab has successfully [URL="http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/02/23/kaspersky-patents-malware-removal/"]patented yet another bit[/URL] of security technology. This time it is a new heuristic analysis technology which allows security ratings to be assigned to software based entirely upon behaviour patterns during emulation. Is this something to get excited about? Well, yes, if you look beyond the …

I've never made it a secret that I'm a big fan of Apple products. I love my Mac Book Pro and my iPhone, but I have to say that Apple has been pissing me off lately. The company has decided to throw its legal weight around to protect its market …

Apparently the stinging failure of Windows Vista is a distant memory for Microsoft because they've cooked up yet another hair-brained idea to draw in customers: pay-as-you-go computing. [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10129438-92.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0"]Cnet has the details[/URL] today of a patent application filed by the company and I'm having trouble believing it's not Bill Gates' attempt …

Many years ago, during a press visit to Microsoft HQ in Seattle, I was given relative freedom to wander around the Redmond campus. Of course, there were some areas that were strictly out of bounds. Areas like the one which was entered via the 'Cryogenics Lab' door for example. At …