-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
No Patents for Circuits? Since You Insist...
,----[ Quote ]
| I love this argument:
|
| Arguments against software patents have a fundamental flaw. As any
| electrical engineer knows, solutions to problems implemented in software
| can also be realized in hardware, i.e., electronic circuits. The main
| reason for choosing a software solution is the ease in implementing
| changes, the main reason for choosing a hardware solution is speed of
| processing. Therefore, a time critical solution is more likely to be
| implemented in hardware. While a solution that requires the ability to
| add features easily will be implemented in software. As a result, to be
| intellectually consistent those people against software patents also have
| to be against patents for electronic circuits.
|
| [...]
|
| Since software is just algorithms, which is just maths, which cannot be
| patented, and this clever chap points out that circuits are just software
| made out of hardware, it follows that we shouldn't allow patents for circuits
| (but they can still be protected by copyright, just as software can.)
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/no-patents-for-circuits-since-you.html
D Ravi Kanth: A Trips-plus agenda at WIPO
,----[ Quote ]
| Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’ is a timely
| reminder for key actors who are bent on pushing failed agendas. As
| governments and multilateral institutions struggle to recover from a
| pervasive crisis of confidence stemming from the current political and
| economic climate, it is important to not make the same mistakes all over
| again. But the tendency is to cock a snook at such warnings.
|
| [...]
|
| Internally, the abrupt removal of Ram Kishan Singh, a junior official, who
| worked for nine years in the organisation with an outstanding record and the
| proposed reforms in the staffing pattern raise serious questions whether
| developing country officials are specific targets in the onward march of a
| renewed western IP agenda at WIPO!
`----
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/d-ravi-kanthtrips-plus-agenda-at-wipo/364449/
Has Google Forgotten Celera?
,----[ Quote ]
| One of the reasons I wrote my book Digital Code of Life was that the battle
| between the public Human Genome Project and the privately-funded Celera
| mirrored so closely the battle between free software and Microsoft - with the
| difference that it was our genome that was at stake, not just a bunch of
| bits.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/has-google-forgotten-celera.html
Recent:
Batik-Makers Say "Tidak" to Copyright
,----[ Quote ]
| Interestingly, this is very close to the situation for software. The batik
| motifs correspond to sub-routines: both are part of the commons that everyone
| draws upon; copyrighting those patterns is as counter-productive as patenting
| subroutines, since it makes further creation almost impossible
| without "infringement". This reduces the overall creativity - precisely the
| opposite effect that intellectual monopolists claim.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/batik-makers-say-tidak-to-copyright.html
Are Patents Intellectual Monopolies? You Decide
,----[ Quote ]
| Talking of intellectual monopolies, you may wonder why I use this term (well,
| if you've been reading this blog for long, you probably don't.) But in any
| case, here's an excellent exposition as to why, yes, patents are indeed
| monopolies...
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/are-patents-intellectual-monopolies-you.html
What Are Intellectual Monopolies For?
,----[ Quote ]
| We can't possibly have dveloping countries protecting their traditional
| medicine and national lore - "genetic resources, traditional knowledge and
| folklore" - from being taken and patented by the Western world. After all,
| companies in the latter have an inalienable right to turn a profit by
| licensing that same traditional knowledge it back to the countries it was
| stolen from (this has already happened). That's what intellectual monopolies
| are for.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/whats.html
Another Example Of Patents Putting Lives At Risk
,----[ Quote ]
| Given that Shafer refused to live up to the terms of the deal that he had
| never agreed to in the first place, ABL moved forward and sued Shafer
| directly, and that case is now ongoing -- even as Shafer hopes to invalidate
| the patent through the Patent Office itself. The whole thing is yet another
| story of how patents are being used to stifle innovation -- and sometimes put
| lives at risk. It's tragic that we've been seeing so many such stories
| lately.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090610/2202565196.shtml
Do Patents On Your Website Make You Liable For False Marking?
,----[ Quote ]
| One of the things that tends to keep patent lawsuits in check between two
| larger competing companies is the "patent nuclear war" scenario -- which is
| that if one company sues the other for patent infringement, the latter
| company often can hit back with an equal number of infringement charges.
| Thus, the incentives are for companies to stockpile lots of patents, but not
| necessarily use them... though it does happen occasionally.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090606/1139255152.shtml
The Patent Troll
,----[ Quote ]
| Spangenberg predicts a day when corporations and trolls will live in relative
| harmony. He estimates that in the near future, litigation will be taken out
| of the patent equation, and people will buy and sell intellectual property in
| a way similar to the method now used to buy and sell works of art: auctions
| with built-in criteria to determine value.
|
| He explains: “The courts are intermediaries for patents right now, and the
| courts are extremely inefficient. Patents will trade as a commodity in the
| next five to six years, and what I do won’t even exist.
`----
http://www.good.is/post/the-patent-troll/
What Is A Patent Worth?
,----[ Quote ]
| Often, the value of a patent is not publicly known because parties often
| settle matters out of court. Other times, the value of a patent becomes
| abundantly clear after a blockbuster court case. For example, a jury
| yesterday awarded nearly $1.7 billion to Johnson & Johnson, whose patent the
| jury determined was infringed by Abbott Laboratories' drug, Humira. Abbott
| Labs plans to appeal the verdict.
`----
http://www.patentlawinsights.com/2009/06/articles/patent-valuation/what-is-a-patent-worth/
The Linux Defenders: Stop the Trolls, Protect Linux, Further Innovation
,----[ Quote ]
| Patent Trolls are an ever-growing threat to global innovation. These IP
| aggregators purchase low-quality patents and use them as leverage to hijack
| potential revenue and profits from hardware and software companies, our
| largest economic driver. This causes entrepreneurs to reconsider launching
| companies, while CEOs devote more of their time and resources to managing
| intellectual property. New online and offline tools and services are becoming
| available to combat Patent Trolls and enable technology companies to focus on
| their core business.
`----
http://www.linuxtag.org/2009/en/program/freies-vortragsprogramm/wednesday/details.html?talkid=582
Patent Litigation Weekly: PubPat and "Patent Troll" Make Strange Bedfellows
,----[ Quote ]
| Ravicher acknowledged that it seems strange for a lawyer affiliated with
| PubPat—even as a volunteer—to have gone so far as to set up his own
| patent-holding company and then sued a group of major Internet players.
|
| "Dave, if you were to talk to him, he’d say software patents are good, and
| they incentivize innovation," says Ravicher. "Some people can’t be friends
| with people who disagree with them. But I’m friends with lots of people I
| have strenuous disagreements with."
|
| Asked whether he surprised by his friend's involvement in the business
| colloquially known as "patent trolling," Ravicher pauses, and then
| laughs. "Nothing surprises me these days."
`----
http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2009/06/pubpat-and-patent-troll-make-strange-bedfellows.html
Former Microsoft Exec to Release Patent Troll Study
,----[ Quote ]
| The funny part is that this former executive’s company makes its money by,
| you guessed it, collecting patents. The firm has yet to assert any of its
| rights in court, however.
`----
http://www.xchangemag.com/hotnews/former-microsoft-exec-to-release-patent-troll.html
Inventor says Google settles patent claim
,----[ Quote ]
| Google has agreed to settle an intellectual property claim brought by serial
| inventor Judah Klausner, who has won settlements in the past from Apple,
| Skype and LG Electronics, Klausner said on Monday.
|
| The dispute concerned patents that Klausner holds covering so-called visual
| voicemail, which makes voicemail work more like email by sending visual
| alerts of voice messages to computers or phones, allowing users to
| selectively retrieve the messages.
|
| Visual voicemail is a key feature of many of the latest touchscreen phones on
| the market, including Apple's iPhone. New York-based Klausner holds several
| patents relating to the technology in the United States, Europe and Asia.
|
| Klausner grabbed the attention of the mobile phone industry in late 2007 when
| his company, privately held Klausner Technologies Inc, sued Apple and six
| other companies for $360 million for violating patents on visual voicemail
| technology.
`----
http://aftereffects.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=680610
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkpoB8YACgkQU4xAY3RXLo6/ZQCdFwA0WRngjhbjDDkNYWvIEla6
wnsAoIspJlcwvXQKhsBbvXXBRA4hJb6j
=I6lK
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
