u.s. patent and trademark office

U.S. patent office to hang a shingle in Silicon Valley

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is coming to Silicon Valley in hopes of fostering more efficient patent applications in the tech world.

The office announced that it is opening three more satellite offices throughout the country, including one in heart of California's tech hub. The PTO is already set to open a satellite office in Detroit on July 13 as a part of recent patent reform legislation, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.

Silicon Valley leaders have been lobbying for a satellite office for three years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The area accounted for almost one … Read more

Apple sends adult app store cease-and-desist order

Apple has fired another legal salvo over the use of the term "app store," this one targeted at adult app store MiKandi.

Last week, MiKandi received a cease-and-desist order from Apple over the use of the term "app store," company co-founder Jennifer McEwen confirmed today to CNET.

In an interview with GeekWire published yesterday, fellow MiKandi co-founder Jesse Adams said that Apple specifically asked the company to stop billing itself as the "world's first app store for adults" and to stop using the term "app store" in describing its own free … Read more

Patent Office rejects Rambus claims against Nvidia

According to Nvidia on Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has initially rejected an additional eight Rambus claims that Nvidia challenged.

The additional eight claims are based on two patents that Rambus has asserted against Nvidia in litigation. This follows the USPTO's rejection last month of 41 other claims in seven patents that Rambus had asserted, Nvidia said.

Rambus filed patent claims against Nvidia in an International Trade Commission action in November. The ITC litigation involves memory controllers--which handle communications between memory chips and other silicon--related to graphics processors.

"We are pleased that the USPTO decided … Read more

Innovation can breathe again: Patent filings decline

For those of us who believe that patents stifle innovation, this week brings good news: patent filings are down, as PatentlyO reports. After years of steadily increasing, U.S. patent filings have dropped, perhaps reflecting the bad economy.

Or perhaps an increase in common sense? Nah....

While the PatentlyO blog suggests this is a "crisis," I'm with TechDirt: the only crisis is that it has taken so long for patent filings to decline:

Considering the large number of bad patents that got through over the years, and the resulting flood of applications from others hoping to strike … Read more

Patent Office board to revisit Microsoft-Eolas spat

In a move that could shape an upcoming retrial, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed once again to revisit Web browser plug-in patents at the heart of a dispute between Microsoft and University of California spinoff Eolas Technologies.

Microsoft associate general counsel Andy Culbert told CNET News.com in a telephone interview on Friday that the Patent Office agreed last week to undertake what is known as an interference proceeding.

An interference proceeding occurs when the Patent Office has determined that two separate patent holders hold patents covering the same subject matter. A five-judge panel within the … Read more

Friendster lands a third patent

In another attempt to bolster its profitability, pioneering social-networking site Friendster said Thursday it has received its third U.S. patent in the past nine months.

Officially awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on March 6, Patent No. 7,188,153 B2 covers "System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network."

The San Francisco-based outfit's first patent, granted in July 2006, covers "A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks." It landed a second patent in October … Read more