-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Patent trolls try to rip off high tech firms
,----[ Quote ]
| “This is a huge problem for companies like ours,” said David Bates,
| intellectual property counsel for GE Healthcare. “It’s extortion, and we do
| face (these problems) on a regular basis, and because of the way the system
| is set up we can’t possibly keep up
`----
http://www.biztimes.com/news/2009/5/29/patent-trolls-try-to-rip-off-high-tech-firms
Recent patent infringement cases filed in the Eastern District of Texas
,----[ Quote ]
| Klausner alleges that six defendant companies are infringing the '576 Patent.
| The defendants are Qwest, Yahoo, Panasonic, Ribbit Corp., SpinVox and ooma.
|
| The plaintiff also alleges that all the defendants, with the exception of
| SpinVox, have infringed the '818 Patent.
`----
http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/219284-recent-patent-infringement-cases-filed-in-the-eastern-district-of-texas
,----[ Quote ]
| Such a set of instructions is an algorithm, so such a patent could fit some
| people's definition of a "software patent". Of course, you could try to
| respond to this by defining software as a set of instructions to be performed
| by a programmable computer. But this overlooks the problem that most
| technical processes nowadays are computer-controlled. Again, you could try
| (as some FFII-backed MEPs did during the CII patents directive debate) to
| restrict patentability to only those technical processes which make use
| of "forces of nature". The first trouble here is that even "pure software"
| makes use of "forces of nature" within the microprocessor. Even marketing
| processes make use of forces of nature governing our brains. So this could
| become quite a meaningless restriction, and even if it was applied
| restrictively it would leave, for instance, sound or image processing methods
| in a grey area. The current approach of the EPO's Boards of Appeal, which is
| confirmed by the judges of most EPO states, is that for a computer program to
| be patentable there must be a "technical effect" going "beyond the normal
| physical interactions between the program and the computer". It is an
| interpretation which of course leaves a lot of room for debate, but do you
| have a better alternative? Of course, considering how difficult it is to pin
| down what a "software patent" actually is, it is difficult to avoid that
| other debate: why bother? why shouldn't pure software be patentable? what's
| so special about it in comparison to other areas of technology?
`----
http://www.ipjur.com/blog2/index.php?/archives/77-2945th-session-of-the-Council-of-the-European-Union-Competitiveness-Configuration-Internal-Market,-Industry-and-Research.html#comments
Recent:
Has the US patent system gone too far?
,----[ Quote ]
| When Samuel Hopkins came up with a method for improving the production of
| potash, it was probably just the kind of invention that President George
| Washington had in mind when he created the US patent system. Hopkins, who in
| 1790 received the first American patent ever issued, had discovered a way to
| increase the production of a critical resource used to make glass, soap, and
| soil fertilizer.
`----
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/03/12/has-the-us-patent-system-gone-too-far/
Backlog At The Copyright Office Highlights Massive Problem With The System
,----[ Quote ]
| As you hopefully know, you don't need to register to get a copyright these
| days (and haven't since 1976), but you can still register, and need to do so
| if you want to sue someone else for damages. So, professional creators still
| register copyright on pretty much everything they do -- though the process is
| still a bit unclear even to the experts. At the recent copyright conference
| at Santa Clara University, one of the more amusing moments was when someone
| asked about registering blog posts and how that could/should be done -- and a
| bunch of the world's foremost experts in copyright law (including multiple
| representatives from the Copyright Office) effectively threw up their hands
| and said they had no clue what actually needed to be registered and how. It
| resulted in a lot of rather awkward laughter from folks in the room.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090520/0151534942.shtml
Intellectual Monopolies Kill: Two Examples
,----[ Quote ]
| If people with breast cancer genes are demonstrably suffering in this way,
| statistics tells us that some of them will be dying as a direct result of
| Myriad's aggressive defence of its unwarranted intellectual monopolies.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/05/intellectual-monopolies-kill-two.html
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkokQr8ACgkQU4xAY3RXLo61ggCfUoGDGY6Jd1j3yr2bP5YL0UsX
aGIAoKYArJCLjsXaA9ryrs2ZdIVKckQA
=odVU
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
