August 6, 2011

Problem Patent Trolls Inspire New Legislation

Problem Patent Trolls Inspire New Legislation - U.S. Politics Today - News Media Monitoring:
"Patent trolls have been an especially difficult problem for companies to manage. They are reminiscent of cyber-squatters who bought up Internet domain names during the dot-com boom, and, because of patent trolls' behavior, patent-infringement litigation is growing at an incredible pace. In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (where many of patent-infringement lawsuits are initiated), filings in 2010 increased by 20 percent compared to 2009.

In addition, new patent cases in the Eastern District outnumbered new filings in every other federal district. The total number of new defendants (3,879) marks a 70 percent increase from 2009 and is more than four times the next highest number for new defendants (884), in the District of Delaware.

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a report indicating that patent trolls appear focused on hindering companies that have actually innovated rather than 'developing and transferring technology' themselves. It also notes that one of the primary problems exploited by patent trolls is the vagueness in patent applications. Some patents are intentionally vague and, as a result, often do not serve their purpose in giving notice about what the covers."

August 5, 2011

UK companies to get patents faster in US and Japan

UK companies to get patents faster in US and Japan:
The UK, US and Japan have launched a pilot scheme that will make it quicker for companies that have been granted a patent in one country to get that patent awarded in the other two.

HTC buys Dashwire for $18.5M, gets cloud phone backup and patents | VentureBeat

HTC buys Dashwire for $18.5M, gets cloud phone backup and patents | VentureBeat:
"Slowly but surely, HTC is building up its software expertise. The smartphone maker announced this morning that it has acquired Seattle-based Dashwire, creator of a mobile backup and synchronization service for smartphones, for $18.5 million.

Dashwire’s technology will make its way to the company’s HTCSense.com cloud service. But the purchase will also equip HTC with patents that could help it to avoid future squabbles like its current patent battle with Apple."

FOSS Patents: In dispute with Google, Oracle asks Chicago court to compel deposition of Motorola Mobility

FOSS Patents: In dispute with Google, Oracle asks Chicago court to compel deposition of Motorola Mobility:
"Oracle's 'motion to compel the deposition of Motorola [Mobility]', a major Android device maker headquartered in the Chicago area, has the purpose of getting Motorola Mobility (which was served a subpoena by Oracle back in April) to provide the following information:

1. Each package and source code file Motorola retrieves from http://android.git.kernel.org for loading, installation, or execution on Motorola Android Devices, and any changes Motorola makes to those packages and source code files.

2. The extent to which Motorola uses the Android dx tool, and whether Motorola has made any modifications to that tool."

Nanometrics sues KLA-Tencor in patent case

Nanometrics sues KLA-Tencor in patent case:
"KLA-Tencor Corp., a maker of computer chip fabrication equipment, was sued in federal court in Delaware by rival Nanometrics Inc., which accused it of infringing two U.S. patents for alignment gear and seeks damages after a jury trial."

Google's Chief Legal Officer Lashes Out Online

Google's Chief Legal Officer Lashes Out Online:
"If Google's chief legal officer was aiming to spark a reaction with his Wednesday blog post focusing on tech patents, mission accomplished. But in the latest salvo of the rapidly escalating patent wars, did CLO David Drummond make his case—or did he make a huge misstep?

The paradoxical verdict rolling in from tech bloggers and pundits may well be that while Drummond has a point about the stifling chokehold of patent litigation, the evidence he cites in the post is shaky at best, and self-pitying and hypocritical at worst."

Alca-Lu Patent Portfolio Could Be Worth $9B, More Than Company - DailyFinance

Alca-Lu Patent Portfolio Could Be Worth $9B, More Than Company - DailyFinance:
"Alcatel-Lucent (NYS: ALU) has lost 30 percent of its stock market value since reporting sales figures last week that failed to meet analysts estimates. The company, which was valued at $100 billion at its peak, is now worth $7.8 billion, having made continuing losses since it acquired Lucent in 2006.

However, Bloomberg revealed that Alcatel-Lucent's patents could be worth double the $4.5 billion that Nortel Networks' licences sold for in a bankruptcy auction in June.

Rather than focusing on Alcatel's money-losing operations, investors should be 'looking at the next piece, which is a very large patent portfolio that has actual value that's being undervalued by the public market,' said Alkesh Shah, an analyst with New York-based investment advisors Evercore, in an interview with Bloomberg. 'The patent portfolio is one of the hidden assets of value that I don't think investors have paid much attention to.'"

August 4, 2011

AppleInsider | Apple investigating inductive iPhone charging through headphones

AppleInsider | Apple investigating inductive iPhone charging through headphones:
Apple has shown interest in creating an inductive charging system, for portable devices like iPhones and iPods, that would involve using headphones to provide power to the device.

Apple's 'bogus' patents will 'strangle' Android: Google

Apple's 'bogus' patents will 'strangle' Android: Google:
Google's chief legal officer has launched a blistering attack on competitors, including Apple, for attempting to stifle innovation by using 'bogus patents' to target Google's Android partners including Samsung.

David Drummond, who is also Google's senior vice-president, wrote in an explosive blog post that the patent wars were pushing up the prices of Android smartphones and tablets. This was part of a 'hostile, organised campaign' being waged by Apple, Microsoft and others to 'strangle' Android, which Google provides free of charge.

Microsoft’s Cynical Response to Google’s Patent Post - Timothy B. Lee - Disruptive Economics - Forbes

Microsoft’s Cynical Response to Google’s Patent Post - Timothy B. Lee - Disruptive Economics - Forbes:

Obviously, if Google bought patents in concert with Microsoft, Microsoft wouldn’t have to let Google use those patents to sue them. And they probably wouldn’t have let Google use them to sue other major tech companies, like Apple or Oracle, that are also trying to shake down Android. Microsoft knew perfectly well that Google wouldn’t join Microsoft’s bid and Smith is insulting our intelligence to suggest otherwise.

Patent Trolls Sitting Under The UX Bridge: How the U.S. patent system may affect your everyday UX work

Patent Trolls Sitting Under The UX Bridge: How the U.S. patent system may affect your everyday UX work:
"The reality is that generic elements of digital interfaces or parts of websites are in fact owned by various corporate entities and some of these entities have no intention of commercializing them within their own products. Simple functions within UX design as basic as menu systems and “upgrade” buttons are patented. These patents cannot be freely used by the people who don’t own them. I am sure almost every UX designer has unknowingly infringed upon a U.S. patent."

Planet Money Continues To Show How Damaging Software Patents Are To Innovation | Techdirt

Planet Money Continues To Show How Damaging Software Patents Are To Innovation | Techdirt:
"Of course, actually showing the specific costs is difficult, but Maskin and Bessen have a few different ways to show it. For example, Maskin talks about the research that shows an increase in patenting has not increased investment in R&D -- and, if anything, it's shown that investment in R&D has potentially been limited due to patents. They note that there's an overwhelming amount of evidence at this point that we would likely be seeing greater innovation 'if intellectual property were relaxed.' As he notes there are numerous 'natural experiments' that provide data to support this."

August 3, 2011

How NOT to try a patent case: Troll slain by Fed Circ

How NOT to try a patent case: Troll slain by Fed Circ:
The misdeeds of Eon-Net and its lawyer, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, ranged from the bedrock violation of bringing the case in bad faith to litigation misconduct like routinely disposing of documents and presenting the court with misleading evidence. Eon-Net's principal, Mitchell Medina, had a wholly-contemptuous attitude toward litigation. According to the Federal Circuit ruling, Medina said his corporate-document retention policy, for instance, was simply not to retain documents. 'I don't save anything so I don't have to look,' he said.

Massive Intellectual-Property Attacks Linked To China

Sci-Tech Today | Massive Intellectual-Property Attacks Linked To China:
The McAfee investigation is called Operation ShadyRAT, a reference to a remote -access tool used by hackers and experts to gain remote access to computer networks. Samani told the BBC that McAfee can trace where the traffic flow originated, and the objective, in many cases, seems to be intellectual-property theft.

ITC Official Reviewing Kodak Case Vs Apple, RIM Retires - WSJ.com

ITC Official Reviewing Kodak Case Vs Apple, RIM Retires - WSJ.com:
"-The U.S. International Trade Commission official reviewing Eastman Kodak Co.'s patent complaint against Apple Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd. is retiring, casting further uncertainty on a case the camera company has said could bring in $1 billion."

Samsung eyes InterDigital patent portfolio for mobile technology | ZDNet

Samsung eyes InterDigital patent portfolio for mobile technology | ZDNet:
Samsung is reportedly interested in acquiring InterDigital Inc.’s patent portfolio, which retains a catalog of patents related to mobile technologies used to transfer information.

However, Samsung isn’t the only one interested in making this deal. Both Apple and Google are potential bidders as well.

Lee Seung Woo, a Seoul-based analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co., told Bloomberg about just how serious this acquisition could be.

InterDigital has a lot of key patents. The fight between Apple and Samsung is getting serious, so if the assets go to Apple, it could be pretty risky for Samsung. To hedge the risk, Samsung could go ahead with bidding, although they may have to pay a big premium.

Google Should Publicly Oppose Software Patents - Timothy B. Lee - Disruptive Economics - Forbes

Google Should Publicly Oppose Software Patents - Timothy B. Lee - Disruptive Economics - Forbes:
"Google, whose Android operating system is currently on the business end of dozens of patent lawsuits, has a combative post accusing its competitors of ganging up on it with “bogus patents.” The company vows to fight back on multiple fronts:

We’re determined to preserve Android as a competitive choice for consumers, by stopping those who are trying to strangle it. We’re looking intensely at a number of ways to do that. We’re encouraged that the Department of Justice forced the group I mentioned earlier to license the former Novell patents on fair terms, and that it’s looking into whether Microsoft and Apple acquired the Nortel patents for anti-competitive means. We’re also looking at other ways to reduce the anti-competitive threats against Android by strengthening our own patent portfolio.

Conspicuously missing here is any mention of patent reform. Congress is currently working on a patent overhaul called the America Invents Act. Google is one of the world’s largest and most prominent victims of our innovation-taxing patent system, so lobbying for better patent laws seems like an obvious way to fight back."

August 2, 2011

iOS devs put out a call to unite against Lodsys, other patent trolls

iOS devs put out a call to unite against Lodsys, other patent trolls:
Move over Apple: some independent app developers plan to begin banding together to fight off lawsuits brought by Lodsys and its ilk on their own. On Monday, renowned iOS developer Mike Lee announced the Appsterdam Legal Defense Team, which will be made up of indie developers fighting patent trolls as a single unit and funded by contributions from participating companies. The goal, aside from the obvious one of being free from frivolous patent lawsuits, is to become 'the ants of East Texas, minding their business until someone invades their anthill.'

Verizon loses ActiveVideo patent suit, owes $115M — Online Video News

Verizon loses ActiveVideo patent suit, owes $115M — Online Video News:
Video-on-demand technology startup ActiveVideo was awarded $115 million by a jury in a patent infringement against Verizon on Tuesday. The decision comes a little more than a year after ActiveVideo took the telco to court over patents related to interactive TV and video-on-demand applications.

The patent infringement lawsuit was originally filed in May 2010 and involved four ActiveVideo patents:


  • U.S. Patent No. 6,034,678, titled Cable Television System With Remote Interactive Processor
  • U.S. Patent No. 5,550,578, titled Interactive And Conventional Television Information System
  • U.S. Patent No. 6,100,883, titled Home Interface Controller for Providing Interactive Cable Television
  • U.S. Patent No. 6,205,582, titled Interactive Cable Television System with Frame Server

Quick and easy fix for all Android patent problems. Google should buy Motorola » Unwired View

Quick and easy fix for all Android patent problems. Google should buy Motorola » Unwired View:
And there is very little Google and Android OEMs can do about it. Except to try and drag the whole process in courts for as long as they can, searching for some other way out. Google is a young company, with very small patent portfolio to use in a fight. And there are some indications that they have played fast and loose with IP issues, while creating Android. In the end, anyone putting Google’s mobile OS on their gadgets, might end up paying $60 or more per handset in patent fees.

But Google has a way out. An easy fix, that could solve all their Android IP troubles at once:

Google should buy Motorola Mobility Holdings.

Motorola and Google buddying up against Apple in patent war | DroidMatters.com

Motorola and Google buddying up against Apple in patent war | DroidMatters.com:
It’s no secret that Motorola has been struggling for market share and relevancy ever since it stopped riding the wave of the Razr success, but they may have new wind in their sales (pun intended) with one of their most valuable assets – their patent portfolio.

With the continuing legal battles spearheaded by Apple, manufacturers are grappling for patents to protect their designs and avoid being their next target. Undefined intellectual property rights are encouraging manufacturers to seek patent portfolios. Companies that have many patents, like Motorola, therefore have an advantage at this time and can leverage these as assets. Motorola, with its impressive patent portfolio, can either use these patents to up their own market share, or can choose to sell them to other manufacturers looking to boost their portfolios. Just last month, Apple took advantage of a patent deal that significantly strengthened its portfolio by purchasing, along with Microsoft, RIM, Sony, EMC and Ericsson, the Nortel patents for over $4.5 billion at auction.

Kodak may sell patent being used in lawsuits against Apple, RIM

Kodak may sell patent being used in lawsuits against Apple, RIM:
Eastman Kodak Co. is said to be considering the sale of one of its most valuable patents, an invention that is the key component of lawsuits against smartphone makers Apple and Research in Motion.

Kodak has previously announced it is considering the sale of 1,100 patents, which would amount to 10 percent of its portfolio. One of those patents, The Wall Street Journal confirmed Tuesday, is the image-previewing invention upon which Kodak's lawsuits against Apple and RIM are based.

Apple Won't Have to Pay Out Again in Patent Suit

Apple Won't Have to Pay Out Again in Patent Suit:
A federal judge refused to let Personal Audio take a second bite at Apple for patent infringement, finding that a jury's lump-sum award applies to all Apple products, not just those presented at trial.

Google Says It Hires FTC Intellectual Property Expert Michel - Bloomberg

Google Says It Hires FTC Intellectual Property Expert Michel - Bloomberg:
Google Inc., under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for its dominance of Internet searches, said it hired Suzanne Michel, one of the commission’s top intellectual property officials.
Michel, 49, is leaving her post as deputy director of policy planning at the FTC, where she worked for more than 11 years on patent antitrust issues and patent policy. She will join the company’s legal team, Aaron Zamost, a Google spokesman, said, declining to elaborate on what her responsibilities will be.

August 1, 2011

‘Inventors’ Claim FarmVille And Other Zynga Games Infringe On Patent | TechCrunch

‘Inventors’ Claim FarmVille And Other Zynga Games Infringe On Patent | TechCrunch:
Zynga has been slapped with patent lawsuit from a Segan LLC, which alleges that the social gaming giant has infringed on a patent titled “System for Viewing Content Over A Network and Method Thenrfor.” You can access the complaint here.

According to the document, the technology was developed and patented by Marc Segan and Gene Lewin in 2006 for a system and method for viewing content over the Internet wherein a user accesses a service provider server to view a character icon provided by the service provider to a user interface device.

Apple Succeeds in Killing Samsung's Australian Tablet Sales With Lawsuit

Apple Succeeds in Killing Samsung's Australian Tablet Sales With Lawsuit:
Apple, Inc. has scored a major victory in latest round of lawsuits courtesy of a ban on Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd.'s Australian Android tablet sales.

HTC takes Apple patent battle to U.K. | Wireless - CNET News

HTC takes Apple patent battle to U.K. | Wireless - CNET News:
HTC has filed another lawsuit against Apple in the U.K., further escalating the patent battle between the two smartphone manufacturers.

Bloomberg reported today that the suit was filed on Friday in London. The suit comes two weeks after HTC suffered a blow when the U.S. International Trade Commission made an initial ruling that the Taiwanese company had violated two of Apple's patents.

HTC Files Appeal Against US Ruling Favoring Apple in S3 Graphics Patent Claim - WSJ.com

HTC Files Appeal Against US Ruling Favoring Apple in S3 Graphics Patent Claim - WSJ.com:
"HTC Corp. is appealing a U.S. International Trade Commission preliminary ruling declaring some Apple Inc. mobile products didn't violate patents held by S3 Graphics, HTC said in a statement Sunday."

NTP Wins Court Ruling on 7 Patents From Apple, AT&T Cases - Bloomberg

NTP Wins Court Ruling on 7 Patents From Apple, AT&T Cases - Bloomberg:
"NTP Inc., the patent licenser that extracted a $612.5 million settlement from Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) in a dispute over wireless e-mail technology five years ago, won an appeals court ruling in a battle over the validity of its patents as the company sues other smartphone makers."