News picks
Articles from other sources; copy title, first paragraph, and put URL in body of post.
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The driving force behind the legislation has been complaints by tech companies of a sharp increase in patent infringement lawsuits over the past several years. Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler said the maker of communications equipment faced three lawsuits per year a decade ago, while today, the company has 30. Each can cost millions of dollars to fight.
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by:  zoobab 1193754658|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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NetApp wants to win this case, so it filed the original lawsuit in the IP troll-friendly courts of the Eastern District of Texas. Right away, that puts NetApp’s claims in a negative light….Then you have Sun playing the open source card…
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by: zoobab 1193739997|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Looking at the recent discussion around the patent issue between Sun and NetApp, I'm really wondering who is on the right side. Seeing the various reaction, it looks like a child play to me where no one really knows who started : especially, if you read this letter from Sun with a previous offer to NetApp for buying a cross-licensing. There is at least something clear to me, both are not using patents for defensive reasons… but maybe, I have another definition of a "defensive" patents portfolio than they have. Go back to work and stop this child play.
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by: zoobab 1193681754|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Fresh off agreeing to pay Sprint Nextel $80 million earlier this month, Vonage has now agreed to compensate Verizon at least $80 million to settle their patent dispute, and the total could hit $117 million depending on the outcome of appeals Vonage has pending. 'If Vonage wins rehearing on either the '574 or '711 patent or if the injunction is vacated as to the '574 or '711 patent, Vonage will pay Verizon $80 million. If Vonage does not win rehearing on either the '574 or '711 patent, or if the stay is lifted reinstating the injunction, Vonage will pay Verizon $117.5 million.' And, of course, don't forget AT&T just recently opened charges against the company as well.
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by: zoobab 1193412977|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Fresh off agreeing to pay Sprint Nextel $80 million earlier this month, Vonage has now agreed to compensate Verizon at least $80 million to settle their patent dispute, and the total could hit $117 million depending on the outcome of appeals Vonage has pending. 'If Vonage wins rehearing on either the '574 or '711 patent or if the injunction is vacated as to the '574 or '711 patent, Vonage will pay Verizon $80 million. If Vonage does not win rehearing on either the '574 or '711 patent, or if the stay is lifted reinstating the injunction, Vonage will pay Verizon $117.5 million.' And, of course, don't forget AT&T just recently opened charges against the company as well.
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by: zoobab 1193412861|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Advocates of software patents probably won’t be ready to give up their guns easily. It could be argued that although software consists of algorithms that produce predictable results, the outcomes of their interactions may not be obvious until they actually do solve a problem or prove useful. Admitting this line of reasoning could bring this down to a matter of examining each claimed software patent, instead of a total abolition of software patents — which is what is really needed. Ultimately, the argument may have to transcend the doctrinal tests for patentability and touch on the purposes of patents and their effects. What should we make of the legal morass created by the current situation when it becomes almost impossible to avoid some kind of infringement because of the proliferation of obscure and even frivolous patents? If software patents stifle competition and innovation — which they do — then do they ultimately do more harm than good?
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by: zoobab 1193411959|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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GM: Typically, patent trolls don't have any products, so they are unlikely to be infringing on any of your patents. Isn't that a problem for the OIN approach? JR: Very clearly there's not much we can do with regard to patent trolls. On the other hand, it's my belief that patent trolls go where the money is. They're after the big dollars. That's probably why they haven't, and not for a long time will, go after the open-source movement - that's not where the money is. Could it become a problem in the future? The answer is, sure it could.
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by: zoobab 1193410632|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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In light of the current lawsuit with Technology Licensing Corporation and IP Innovation and Ballmer saying that Red Hat uses IP owned by Microsoft, how can Red Hat ensure corporate customers that patent issues will not affect their business? [...] The protection of our clients is a top priority, and Red Hat provides the most comprehensive intellectual property coverage for open source software that is available. The Red Hat Open Source Assurance program protects our clients in two ways. One is in business continuity - Red Hat offers assurances of uninterrupted use of its technology solutions. We also offer indemnification against claims by ANY holder of software patents.
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by: zoobab 1193409875|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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On Wednesday Sun Microsystems announced a counter suit against Network Appliance, wherein they will draw on their "defensive portfolio" which is "one of the largest patent arsenals on the internet". They are going to be requesting a permanent injunction to remove all of NetApp's filer products from the marketplace, and also seeking monetary damages (half of which they've pledged to donate to the Software Freedom Law Center and Peer to Patent Project). Last month, NetApp sued Sun for patent infringements in ZFS. Earlier this month in Texas, the first ever patent infringement lawsuit against Linux distributors was filed.
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by: zoobab 1193408755|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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In terms of proving a link between Microsoft and Acacia this is smoke, just as the move of two Microsoft executives to Acacia unit IP Innovation is smoke. Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold’s founding of his own patent firm last year? Smoke, coincidence. And if you take a satellite picture of southern California today that’s all you’ll see — smoke. But there’s fire below the California smoke. Is all this smoke just coincidence? It may well be. But the smoke gets thicker by the day.
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by: zoobab 1193408265|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Acacia Research Corporation announced today that its Financial Systems Innovation LLC subsidiary has entered into a settlement agreement covering a patent that applies to credit card fraud protection technology with Shell Oil Company. [...] The patented technology generally relates to a computerized system for protecting retailers and consumers engaged in credit card, check card, and debit transactions. The system includes an electronic card reader, and the generation and use of a transaction number, which specifically identifies each transaction processed within the system.
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by: zoobab 1193408100|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Acacia Research Corp, a technology license company, said its unit entered into a settlement agreement with Shell Oil Co, covering a patent that applies to credit card fraud protection technology.
The patented technology generally relates to a computerized system for protecting retailers and consumers engaged in credit card, check card, and debit transactions, it said.[...] The patented technology generally relates to a computerized system for protecting retailers and consumers engaged in credit card, check card, and debit transactions, it said.
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by: zoobab 1193407968|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Vonage has finally settled its patent war with telecom giant Verizon. It will be costly: up to $117.5 million. But most important: Vonage won't have to shut down its network or pay Verizon a chunk of its monthly revenue. [...] If Vonage doesn't win a rehearing on either patent, or if the stay is lifted, Vonage will pay Verizon $117.5 million, plus another $2.5 million to "certain charities."
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by: zoobab 1193393901|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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An article in Australia's IT News mentions that under its antitrust agreement with the European Union, 'Microsoft will publish an irrevocable pledge not to assert any patents it may have over the interoperability information against **non-commercial** open source software development projects.' Essentially, in addition to getting them to comply with the anti-trust decision, the EU has forced Microsoft to back off of its saber-rattling when it comes to EU open source projects. That protection in no way extends to US projects, of course.
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by: zoobab 1193393556|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Sun Microsystems is preparing to file a patent suit against storage vendor Network Appliance (NetApp), chief executive Jonathan Schwartz revealed on his blog. [...] Sun plans to donate half of any damages that it will be awarded to free software charities. The executive named the Software Freedom Law Center and the Peer to Patent initiative. He also suggested setting up a venture fund that promotes free software innovation.
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by: zoobab 1193317513|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Open-source software company Red Hat has said that it is concerned that Microsoft patent arrangements may not be compatible with open-source licensing models.
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by: zoobab 1193317391|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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Microsoft has now posted the revised licenses for interoperability as a result of the EU antitrust agreement. Microsoft calls them the Microsoft Work Group Server Protocol Program License Agreements for Development and Product Distribution (WSPP Development Agreements). I don't know why they can't come up with better names. Probably for the same reason the Zune is brown.
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by:  pieterh 1193307563|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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video-recording software
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by:  ALICEXIAO 1264166798|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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by: zoobab 1234308578|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover |
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