patent

The topsy-turvy world of intellectual property companies

Intellectual property (IP) companies are unique business entities. Theirs is a complex, controversial world characterized by huge capital investments, epic legal battles, rollercoaster stock rides, fanatical investors, and of course, lots of patents.

Why should you care? Because, their technology helps almost all your gadgets work the way they do. And for that privilege, their executives, employees and investors go through hell.… Read more

Jane's Addiction invades Microsoft

Apparently, only Charlie Babcock at InformationWeek really listened to the music selected for the Open Source Business Conference earlier this week. In an excellent article, Charlie walks through Microsoft's troubled patent claims on open source, and notes its dissonance with the open-source harmony:

There's a lot of open source code running on Windows now, so much that Microsoft wants to forget about those claimed infractions and work more closely with open source developers. Smith said Microsoft believes in the patent system and won't back off its patent portfolio. But at the same time he acknowledged Microsoft has … Read more

Report: New Apple product will give your workouts that magic touch

Are you disappointed that your iPhone still hasn't made you sexier in the eyes of potential mates? Hey, don't give up yet. AppleInsider has unearthed a series of patent filings that seem to indicate the company is working on a new "digital lifestyle" product to help track and manage a fitness routine.

In a move that could rival Google's upcoming health initiatives, the Apple screenshots show that health information could also be shared with a user's authorized physicians.

The filings were submitted on Thursday.

The product appears to be an application that would require … Read more

Rambus wins latest legal round, beats back fraud claims

The latest round in everyone's favorite ongoing legal saga, Rambus versus the world, has tipped in Rambus' favor.

A jury ruled Wednesday in San Francisco that Rambus did not obtain patents for memory technology through fraud or anti-competitive means, in a blow to memory makers Hynix, Micron, and Nanya. Rambus has spent years trying to enforce its patents on memory used in just about every PC and server in the world, while fighting off claims that it obtained those patents through shady means.

At one point in the mid-1990s, Rambus and the memory industry sat down to work on … Read more

Microsoft's dilemma: The importance of the downstream

The most critical element that emerged from Brad Smith's OSBC keynote is the importance of protecting the downstream. By "downstream" I mean those users who may come into contact with open-source software beyond the immediate licensee. One of the benefits of open source is that once released under a certain license, the code endures under that license.

Patents foul the water. As emerged from the question-and-answer period, while Microsoft may prefer to deal with other "cathedrals" (e.g., its agreements with Novell, LG, etc.), in open source you simply can't avoid the bazaar (e.g., downstream developers who may come into contact with the code). This is why at Microsoft's Mix conference, Mozilla's Mike Schroepfer took issue with Miguel de Icaza's suggestion that his Moonlight code is protected from patent claims:

During the discussion, de Icaza explained that anyone who downloaded Moonlight from Novell was protected by the company's licensing of Silverlight codecs from Microsoft through the company's own cross-licensing agreement. Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering from Mozilla, then raised the question that if he downloads and then distributes the code for Moonlight, would he get the patent protection?… Read more

Typhoon Touch accuses TabletKiosk, others of patent violations

Typhoon Touch is working its way down the tablet PC food chain.

After suing Dell and Motion Computing for allegedly infringing on two of its patents for portable computers with touch-screen technology, Typhoon, and licensing partner and co-plaintiff Nova Mobility Systems, said Tuesday they are targeting three more potential infringers: Xplore Technologies, Electrovaya, and Sand Dune Ventures, which makes tablet PCs under the brand TabletKiosk.

Typhoon specifically cites Xplore's iX104C series of tablet PCs, Electrovaya's Scribbler SC4000 tablet, and four of TabletKiosk's ruggedized tablets. Typhoon, a Seattle-based firm that creates and acquires patents, has only licensed its … Read more

Apple gets patents on scroll wheel, iMac design

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Apple several patents this week on technologies inside the iPod, iMac, and Apple software.

MacNN summarized the four patents, awarded based on applications filed as far back as 2002. The most familiar ones involve the scroll wheel for the iPod and the flexible support arm used on the iMac, but the other two appear to involve sound or video editing on a split screen and speech recognition. Patent reading might just be the missing cure for insomnia.

If you're interested in further details, check out the patents themselves for the … Read more

Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games accused of patent infringement

Real guitar maker, Gibson Guitar Corporation, is accusing the simulated guitars used in popular video games like the "Guitar Hero" series and "Rock Band" of patent infringement.

On March 21, 2008, Gibson filed two lawsuits for patent infringement in Nashville. One of those lawsuits names Harmonix Music Systems, MTV Networks and Electronic Arts as defendants. Apparently, these are the companies that market and distribute the Rock Band game and at least some of the Guitar Hero titles. The other suit was filed against a number of major retailers like Amazon and Target who sell those video … Read more

What is U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473?

The title of U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473 (the '473 patent in patent speak) is "Recyclable corrugated beverage container and holder." If you've ever been to Starbucks, the drawing on the first page of the '473 patent probably looks familiar.

I actually have one of these sitting on my desk right now. It's the corrugated, brown cardboard sleeve wrapped around my venti, no fat, no water chai latte. It insulates my hand from the hot liquid inside and allows me to walk from the barista to my car without a wince or painful grimace.

It's a good idea and whoever came up with it got a patent. I know that because the number, "U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473" is printed in neat, black text right on the sleeve. (There's actually a second patent number as well.) The reason the sleeve on my coffee cup, and most other patented products, have patent numbers printed on them is something patent lawyers call "constructive notice."

Under the law, the public is deemed to have constructive notice that something is patented if that something has a patent number on it. The idea behind the law apparently is that if one sees a patent number, one has the ability to look that patent up, read it, and maybe even understand what it says. For the corrugated sleeve, it was simple enough for me--albeit a little geeky--to take a look at the '473 patent and understand how the sleeve works to make the heat from my latte more bearable.

Inventions in outer space

The goal of BLIP is to keep the non-patent lawyer apprised of recent developments in the world of intellectual property law. This post is not directed toward that goal. Today's post is devoted to raising awareness about the patent law with the coolest title: "Inventions in outer space."

The collection of laws that govern patents can be found in Title 35 of the U.S. Code. Anyone having any familiarity with patent laws knows about sections 101-103 of 35 U.S.C.--these sections deal with what is patentable and how you judge if a patent is in fact novel or not obvious. But unbeknownst even to most practicing patent lawyers is that two sections later--in section 105--Congress has enacted a law specifically directed to extraterrestrial patents: