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A firm tries to patent online wish lists in Europe. Shall we stop them?
,----[ Quote ]
| The patent No. 6,917,941, appears to cover the invention of creating a list
| of things in a database. It was issued in July 2005 (sometime after wish
| lists were invented on the Internet I believe) and defendants include a long
| list of startups like On My List, Remember The Milk, WishList and Zlio.
| Channel Intelligence is not suing Amazon or Ebay, probably because these are
| large companies which would send Channel Intelligence packing.
`----
http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/07/23/a-firm-tries-to-patent-online-wish-lists-in-europe-shall-we-stop-them/
The USPTO is still giving mixed signals:
2106.01 Computer-Related Nonstatutory Subject Matter [R-6] - 2100 Patentability
,----[ Quote ]
| Computer programs are often recited as part of a claim. USPTO personnel
| should determine whether the computer program is being claimed as part of an
| otherwise statutory manufacture or machine. In such a case, the claim remains
| statutory irrespective of the fact that a computer program is included in the
| claim. The same result occurs when a computer program is used in a
| computerized process where the computer executes the instructions set forth
| in the computer program. Only when the claimed invention taken as a whole is
| directed to a mere program listing, i.e., to only its description or
| expression, is it descriptive material per se and hence nonstatutory.
|
| Since a computer program is merely a set of instructions capable of being
| executed by a computer, the computer program itself is not a process and
| USPTO personnel should treat a claim for a computer program, without the
| computer-readable medium needed to realize the computer program's
| functionality, as nonstatutory functional descriptive material. When a
| computer program is claimed in a process where the computer is executing the
| computer program's instructions, USPTO personnel should treat the claim as a
| process claim. ** When a computer program is recited in conjunction with a
| physical structure, such as a computer memory, USPTO personnel should treat
| the claim as a product claim. **
`----
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/2100_2106_01.htm
Recent:
Taxing the immobile
,----[ Quote ]
| The Treasury has ditched controversial proposals to raise additional tax from
| companies that locate intellectual property, such as drug or technology
| patents, in low-tax countries.
|
| [...]
|
| A number of multinationals had warned that their tax bills would rise to
| unacceptable levels if the Treasury were to tax earnings generated abroad
| from patents and other forms of intellectual property.
|
| Some threatened to move their headquarters overseas to escape the incremental
| tax.
|
| A Treasury official said that the government had been surprised by quite how
| many companies feared they would pay additional tax.
`----
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/07/taxing_the_immobile.html
Intellectual Property Regime Stifles Science and Innovation, Nobel Laureates
Say
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| Patent monopolies are believed to drive innovation but they actually impede
| the pace of science and innovation, Stiglitz said. The current “patent
| thicket,” in which anyone who writes a successful software programme is sued
| for alleged patent infringement, highlights the current IP system’s failure
| to encourage innovation, he said.
|
| Another problem is that the social returns from innovation do not accord with
| the private returns associated with the patent system, Stiglitz said. The
| marginal benefit from innovation is that an idea may become available sooner
| than it might have. But the person who secures the patent on it wins a
| long-term monopoly, creating a gap between private and social returns.
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http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1129
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