patents

As Apple and Samsung have proved, everyone has some kind of patent on something -- which means that everyone could, in theory, sue someone else for some other feature that seems blindingly similar to their own feature.

It all comes down to how much money you have, how good your lawyers are, and what moods judges and juries happen to be in.

When Facebook introduced the "Like" button, it seemed so thoroughly obvious that you couldn't believe someone hadn't thought of it before -- a 5-year-old in Bangalore, for example.

Now, a patent company called Rembrandt Social Media has decided it holds the patent for, well, liking things online and a few other aspects of Facebook.… Read more

As Apple's patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung drag on, it appears that not everyone in Apple brass was in favor of suing the South Korean electronics giant.

Tim Cook, who succeeded Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as chief executive after seven years as chief operating officer, was opposed to suing Samsung, mostly because of the company's role as a key supplier of components for the iPhone and iPad, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The Cupertino-based company was Samsung's biggest customer in 2011, reportedly buying some $8 billion worth of screens and chips.

After signing a … Read more

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This week on Crave, Japanese scientists teach moths to drive mini trucks, and a new app called Dognition claims to improve our relationship with man's best friend. Also, we decide if a $30 million Death Star Kickstarter campaign is worth it, and Montana is apparently full of badasses! Those stories and more, plus a round of "Into It, Not Into It." … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Hacker exposes George Bush's family photos, portraits.

Wait, so PS4 won't have better graphics?

- J.J. Abrams may direct a Portal and/or Half-Life movie!

- Snow panic has driven Weather.com completely insane.

- Patent troll says he owns "podcasting," sues Adam Corolla, HowStuffWorks.… Read more

An administrative law judge for the U.S. International Trade Commission has dismissed one of Nokia's nine patent infringement claims against HTC, patents blog Foss Patents reported today.

HTC argued that the patent, which deals with routing data to an app, is a standards-essential patent. ITC Administrative Law Judge Thomas B. Pender agreed, dismissing the one complaint.

Standards-essential patents are ones that companies must offer to other companies on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) basis. The idea is that fair licensing of intellectual property is needed for devices from different manufactures to work together properly. Most of the … Read more

A federal judge in Washington state has invalidated more than a dozen patent claims in the case of Microsoft v. Motorola.

Right now the winner (of this particular skirmish) is Microsoft over Google-owned Motorola Mobility.

On Wednesday, Judge James L. Robart of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, issued an order in favor of Microsoft, invalidating 13 patent claims.

Those claims are in reference to just three patents (U.S. Patent No. 7,310,374, U.S. Patent No. 7,310,375, U.S. Patent No. 7,310,376) -- all of which … Read more

Apple has applied for a patent on the use of images to authenticate a Mac or iDevice user.

The patent application, dubbed "Image-Based Authentication," describes a method by which an image of some sort would be displayed on a Mac or iDevice screen. Aside from that image, options will be displayed asking users to correctly identify what it is. If they answer correctly, they'll be able to access the respective device. An incorrect answer keeps it locked.

According to Patently Apple, which was first to report on the patent application, Apple's filing includes an image showing … Read more

A federal judge has dismissed legal claims filed by a trio of networking companies against a licensing company they accused of illegally demanding Wi-Fi patent licensing fees from bakeries, hotels, cafes, and other businesses.

Cisco Systems, Motorola Solutions, and Netgear filed a complaint last year against Innovatio IP Ventures, which has sued about 20 businesses for alleged patent infringement because they had purchased and were using Wi-Fi equipment made by the plaintiffs. The complaint alleged that the patent assertion entity (PAE) sent 8,000 threatening letters to business in all 50 states in an effort "to defraud and extort … Read more

The International Trade Commission's final ruling on a spat between Apple and Samsung is due this August, following a review of an earlier decision.

The judge presiding over the patent case (which was filed by Apple against Samsung in July 2011) last night said he plans to issue a final decision on the case on August 1, following an updated initial determination that's subject to a review.

Last October, the ITC said that Samsung infringed on four of Apple's patents with a handful of its mobile devices. Late last month the U.S.-based group said that decision would be reviewed … Read more