Congress Moves to Rewrite Patent Laws
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| Now Congress is trying to cut down on poor-quality or downright ridiculous
| patents, and at the same time adapt the patent system to a high-tech era in
| which computers and other electronic devices may contain thousands of
| patentable parts.
|
| [...]
|
| There's a backlog of 750,000 patent applications at the U.S. Patent and
| Trademark Office, which is recovering from years of underfunding and hopes to
| nearly double the number of patent examiners on staff, currently about 5,300.
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070728/congress_patents.html?.v=1
Related:
Microsoft’s patent covenants cause confusion
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| Then there is Oracle licensing agreement with the Open Invention Network,
| formed in 2005 to protect Linux from patent threats. By agreeing to a royalty
| free license to the OIN patents Oracle also agreed not to assert its patents
| against the Linux operating system.
|
| So if you can avoid suing anyone for patent infringement related to those 150
| standards, you’re safe from IBM, and if you’re using any form of Linux, you
| are safe from patent infringement claims made by Oracle.
|
| Now, that sounds like peace of mind.
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http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os/archives/2007/07/microsofts_pate.html
Linux Expert: Microsoft Is Throwing Money Away
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| "If [Microsoft] found the knife, they'd use it -- but I don't think they
| found the knife," Bottomley says, referring to patent violations. He rattled
| off a few of the Linux community's defenses: "Patent law is supposed to
| protect people who wish to publish their ideas. I suspect these ideas were
| never published. Whoever invented [something] first is entitled to the
| patent -- it wouldn't be unlikely to be [the open source community], in which
| case the patent would be invalid."
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http://rcpmag.com/blogs/weblog.aspx?blog=1102
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