Tag Archives: patents

The Supreme Court doesn’t understand software, and that’s a problem

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The evidence suggests that in the software industry, the patent system does more to hinder innovation than to reward it. Inventors spend more money defending themselves against patent lawsuits than they earn from patent royalties. More and more entrepreneurs are losing sleep about the risk that patent litigation will drive them into bankruptcies. And companies that traditionally haven’t had to worry about the patent system, like restaurants, grocery stores, and casinos, are facing demands from trolls over dubious patents, most of which involve software.

via The Supreme Court doesn’t understand software, and that’s a problem – Vox.

How Amazon got a patent on white-background photography

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The problem is not with the examiners, but with the law that governs that examination. That law makes it possible to get patents on ideas that any ordinary person would find old, well-known, and obvious.

via How Amazon got a patent on white-background photography | Ars Technica.

The result in Hear-Wear explains the result in the Studio Arrangement patent application. In both cases, the inventive idea, embodied in the independent claim, was shown to be old and well-known by a prior art reference. And in both cases, a seemingly trivial add-on feature in a dependent claim ended up being the feature that tipped the balance from obvious to nonobvious—a multi-pronged plug in one, and a distance ratio in the other. Because in both cases, that trivial feature was so ordinary that no one would have taken the time to describe it in a printed publication, but without such a publication, according to the Federal Circuit’s rules, obviousness cannot be proved.

This, in my view, is why the examiner did not even attempt to reject claim 3. A distance ratio may seem trivial, unimportant, or uninventive, but absent a written prior art reference, that distance ratio can sustain a whole patent claim. However obvious such an element may sound, it remains nonobvious according to the letter of the law, and that is all that is needed for the patent application to leave the examiner’s desk and move to allowance.

us8676045 – Photography lighting (Amazon) – Issued Patent

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Photographing subjects against a white background, where that background is lit to, in effect, be overexposed and thus providing what is known as a high key image is a standard technique. see the following link for more info.. in fact looking at the pictorial description it looks remarkably similar..

http://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-complete-beginners-guide-to-shooting-high-key–photo-2949

via us8676045 – Photography lighting (Amazon) – Issued Patent – PRIOR ART REQUEST – Ask Patents.

Cisco moves to fend off Rockstar patent assault on its customers

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Time Warner, Charter, and other cable companies are being sued by Rockstar for using Cisco equipment, like modems and cable boxes that run on standards such as DOCSIS.

“Cisco and Nortel were working and selling products in the same market for decades,” points out Cisco’s outside lawyer on the case, John Desmarais. “They never bothered each other, never sued each other, never threatened each other with infringement. If Nortel really thought those patents were infringed by Cisco, you think something would have been brought up.”

via Cisco moves to fend off Rockstar patent assault on its customers | Ars Technica.

Burden of proof of infringement on patent holder

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the decision of the district court, stating that it holds that “when a licensee seeks a declaratory judgment against a patentee to establish that there is no infringement, the burden of proving infringement remains with the patentee.”

via US Supreme Court: Burden of proof of infringement on patent holder | ITworld.

Chris Messina Talks About Inventing The Hashtag On Twitter

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On Quora, Messina explained why he chose to let the hashtag become a free device anyone can use and not a licensable product that he could have made money from:

  1. claiming a government-granted monopoly on the use of hashtags would have likely inhibited their adoption, which was the antithesis of what I was hoping for, which was broad-based adoption and support — across networks and mediums.
  2. I had no interest in making money (directly) off hashtags. They are born of the Internet, and should be owned by no one. The value and satisfaction I derive from seeing my funny little hack used as widely as it is today is valuable enough for me to be relieved that I had the foresight not to try to lock down this stupidly simple but effective idea.

via Chris Messina Talks About Inventing The Hashtag On Twitter – Business Insider.

Qualcomm hit with $173M patent verdict—but plaintiff is the real loser

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Nine-digit verdicts don’t happen every day. A $173 million windfall—especially when no other revenue sources seem forthcoming—would have most investors in a small company like ParkerVision jumping up and down. But that didn’t happen. “Were Investors Set Up To Fail?” asked one writer on investment site SeekingAlpha. He quotes a JP Morgan Chase analyst telling clients that just a week ago, ParkerVision was in a position to win up to $2 billion.

via Qualcomm hit with $173M patent verdict—but plaintiff is the real loser | Ars Technica.

Hundreds of Innovators Tell Congress to Stop Patent Troll Abuse and Legislate Cheaper, Faster Ways to Fight

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The Alliance letter calls for legislation that would:

– Create a cheaper, faster alternative to litigation by allowing the Patent Office to review – when evidence justifies – all business method and software patents so that start-ups have a chance to fight against the low-quality patents that are trolls’ best ammunition.

– Require the Patent Office to create public searchable demand letter databases so we can track the basis and volume of patent claims and quickly identify abusive trolls;

– Reduce litigation costs by requiring parties to pay if they demand more in discovery than “core” technology documents, which are generally all that is needed to know if a technology is infringing.

– Protect end-users of off-the-shelf hardware and software. Just as coffee shops should not be sued for providing wi-fi to customers, app developers should not be sued for using off-the-shelf APIs that infringe a patent.

via Hundreds of Innovators Tell Congress to Stop Patent Troll Abuse and Legislate Cheaper, Faster Ways to Fight | Application Developers Alliance.

After patent loss, Apple tweaks FaceTime—and logs 500,000 complaints

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Before the VirnetX case, nearly all FaceTime calls were done through a system of direct communication. Essentially, Apple would verify that both parties had valid FaceTime accounts and then allow their two devices to speak directly to each other over the Internet, without any intermediary or “relay” servers. However, a small number of calls—5 to 10 percent, according to an Apple engineer who testified at trial—were routed through “relay servers.”

Both sides in the litigation admit that if Apple routes its FaceTime calls through relay servers, it will avoid infringing the VirnetX patents. Once Apple was found to be infringing—and realized it could end up paying an ongoing royalty for using FaceTime—the company redesigned the system so that all FaceTime calls would rely on relay servers. Lease believes the switch happened in April.

via Report: After patent loss, Apple tweaks FaceTime—and logs 500,000 complaints | Ars Technica.

VCs Get Their Pick Of Hungry Start-ups

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But there is a dark side because VC’s often only make safe bets, backing companies which can show they have enough valuable intellectual property (IP) to reassure the funders that they can salvage a large part of their money through IP asset-stripping, if the business doesn’t thrive.

Perhaps the slogan for the session should have been: “No IP, no VC”.

via Demo Europe: VCs Get Their Pick Of Hungry Start-ups.