A report for the U.S. Congress takes on the problems present in software and biotechnology patents, and makes some recommendations for reform. The report concludes: The multiplicity of patents involved in computer-related products has resulted in the extensive use of cross licensing in these industries such that one commentator argues: Read more
I must admit that I just came across the Open Invention Network (OIN). This is a company created last year by IBM, Novell, Philips, Red Hat, and Sony. Its purpose is to act as a patent pool which will accumulate a number of software patents that will be cross-licensed to Read more
Lawyer Simon Hart has sent me this very interesting email, and has allowed its reproduction: I was involved in the recently decided Macrossan case [2006] EWHC 705 (Ch) before the High Court in England which I believe will be of interest to intellectual property lawyers and anyone who follows UK Read more
Lucent sued Microsoft a couple of years ago over their U.S. patent 5,227,878 for a method for “Adaptive coding and decoding of frames and fields of video”. The first case was thrown out in 2005 because the patent contained a typo. This was corrected and now Lucent is at it Read more
My recent interest in software patents have made me an observer of the U.S. patent system. You know that there is a problem when somebody can patent DVD rental and sue its competitors. This is what happens in the case of popular web-only DVD rental service Netflix, which has sued Read more
The world’s favourite patent troll, NTP, is back in court trying to bump Blackberry makers RIM Ltd. out of the market. Welcome to the wacky world of the American patent system, where innovators are punished for being first in the market while a patent shell company gets all their profits. Read more
The USPTO continues to amaze me. I mean, one would hope that any silly patent that can be awarded has already been granted. How could it get any worse? Regard US Patent 6,751,348 for protecting an “Automated detection of pornographic images “. The abstract states that the patent covers: A Read more
(Thanks to Hector MacQueen for the link) IP Watch is reporting that a group of pro-software patent lobbyists and big industry representatives are intent in proposing that there should be another attempt to pass a European directive allowing the patentability of software (pardon me, the patentability of computer implemented inventions). Read more
Court of Appeals judge Sir Robin Jacob has made a vocal attack against the American practice of patenting everything under the sun, and has stated that there is no evidence that software patents encourage innovation. “The United States takes the view that anything made by man, under the sun, can Read more
The EPO has just released a study conducted in 2004 by consulting firm Roland Berger Market Research on the cost of patenting in Europe. According to the study, an average EPO patent costs €30,530 EUR, where the costs are higher for Japanese and American companies validating in Europe. As further Read more