.

"Examiners of the European Patent Office will demonstrate against the broken governance of the Office next wednesday 18th September in Brussels. It seems that the management of the EPO is meeting in Brussels next 17th-19th September, probably behind closed doors, the EPO is such a transparent organisation."

Source: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-87284/examiners-to-demonstrate-against-broken-governance-of-the-epo-next-18th-september-in-brussels

"IP-watch tell us that BSA went to lobby Obama at the Democratic Convention in Denver with a list of principles, where the first one is "inspire creativity and innovation through strong, comprehensive, and enforceable intellectual property policies, including copyright, patent and trademark laws." Software patents are definitely on the top of the agenda of American multinationals. BSA does not has any small software company in its members, and Microsoft more active then the other members in using the association as a vector for its purposes."

Source: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-86815/bsa-lobbies-obama-for-software-patents-at-the-democratic-convention-in-denver

"A lot of examiners of the European Patent Office are present on Facebook. Invite them to join the cause!"

Source: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-86622/invite-the-european-patent-office-examiners-to-join-the-cause

"Carly Fiorina found that more patents mean more innovation, so she started patent inflation policy at HP. Now she advises McCain."

Source: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-86439/mccain-senior-advisor-carleton-fiorina

Most laptops are sold without the price of Microsoft Windows displayed before the consumer buys it. This is an issue if you want to use another piece of software on your laptop, such another version of Microsoft Windows, or Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD or OpenSolaris. In an answer given by Commissioner Kuneva to Belgian MEP Saïd El Khadraoui (PSE), there is a mention of two decisions pending at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) related to this issue:

Parliamentary questions
11 February 2008
E-5911/2007
Answer given by Ms Kuneva on behalf of the Commission

The compatibility of any exclusivity contracts between Apple iPhone and telecom operators with laws on unfair commercial practices and unfair competition laws is to be assessed by the national authorities and courts. The Commission is aware that legal proceedings are ongoing at national level. The Commission has no enforcement powers regarding these rules and cannot intervene or give legal interpretations in individual cases under Directive 2005/29/EC(1).

Whether or not there is a violation of the EU antitrust rules laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty depends on a range of factual, economic and legal issues. Apple is not dominant in the market for mobile handsets. Likewise, the operators that distribute the iPhone in the UK, France and Germany are unlikely to be dominant in their respective markets for the provision of mobile telephony services to end users.

The compatibility of the current Belgian legislation prohibiting joint offers with Directive 2005/29/EC on Unfair Commercial Practices will be assessed by the European Court of Justice following recent requests for preliminary rulings (C‑261/07 VTB‑VAB v.n. v Total Belgium and C‑299/07 Galatea BVBA v Sanoma Magazines Belgium NV).

By 2011 the Commission shall submit a report on the application of Directive 2005/29/EC. The report shall be accompanied, if necessary, by a proposal to revise the directive. An impact assessment would precede any proposal.

The Commission would like to draw the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that other EU consumer protection legislation could be relevant in this context. In particular, the Unfair Contract Terms Directive(2) aims at preventing significant imbalances in the rights and obligations of consumers, on the one hand and sellers and suppliers, on the other hand. This general requirement is supplemented by a list of terms which may be regarded as unfair. Terms which are found by a national court, tribunal or administrative body to be unfair under the directive are not binding on consumers. The directive also requires contract terms to be drafted in plain and intelligible language and states that ambiguities will be interpreted in favour of consumers.

So, for instance, a contract term which has the object or effect of limiting consumer's freedom to choose a telecom operator may, in some cases, be regarded by a national court as unfair and therefore not binding on consumers.

(1) Directive 2005/29/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’), OJ L 149, 11.6.2005.
(2) Council Directive 93/13/EC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts , OJ L 95, 21.4.1993.

Some hearing seems to have happened according to a user on an Apple iPhone forum:

Old 06-26-2008, 08:45 PM

User: Samab

The Belgium anti-bundling law will be gone soon. The appeal hearing was last wednesday at the European Court of Justice —- most likely the court will rule that the Belgium law is incompatible to EC 2005 directives.

If there was an appeal hearing in June 2008, it means that a prior judgment has been made.

Here is the question forwarded by the Court of Antwerp to the ECJ (Case C-299/07):

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank van koophandel te Antwerpen (Belgium) lodged on 27 June
2007 — Galatea BVBA v Sanoma Magazines Belgium NV
(Case C-299/07)
(2007/C 199/36)
Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court
Rechtbank van koophandel te Antwerpen

Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: Galatea BVBA
Defendant: Sanoma Magazines Belgium NV
Question referred

Do Article 49 of the EC Treaty concerning the freedom to provide services and Directive 2005/29/EC (1) of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning unfair commercial practices preclude national legislation, such as Article 54 of the Belgian Law of 14 July 1991 on trade practices and consumer information and protection, which — except in the cases listed exhaustively in that law — prohibits any linked offer by a vendor to a consumer whereby the acquisition, whether or not free of charge, of products, services, advantages or vouchers with which they can be obtained is linked to the acquisition of other, even identical, products or services, and this regardless of the circumstances of the case, and especially regardless of the influence which the specific offer may have on the average consumer and regardless of whether that offer can be considered in the specific circumstances to be contrary to professional diligence or fair commercial practices?

(1) Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 may 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ 2005 L 149, p. 22).

"In a suit recently filed, Goldberg claims that the above mentioned companies, as well as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Tribune Interactive, and eBaum’s World, all have stepped over the line(s) supposedly drawn by his holdings. He alleges that his patents, which encompass “a network gaming system” and “a method to play games Game reviews on a network,” have been trespassed against, and he now seeks some recompense for the damages."

Source: http://mashable.com/2008/01/05/patent-troll-strikes-again-targets-aol-digg-google-and-yahoo/#comment-1094915

"The group pools patents from Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Samsung, Panasonic, Warner Bros., Toshiba and Sharp so that companies building products and software that use DVD patents have a one-stop shop from which to license the technology."

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/150691/patent_holders_cut_some_dvd_licensing_rates.html

"Patentable subject matter. The discussion heated up on this issue particularly when Ed Reines of the McCain camp noted that McCain would "support our innovation economy critically," and accused Obama of a general lack of foresight or success in his policies. Reines pointed to Obama’s sponsorship of a law excluding some tax-related patents, which saw a quick death in the Senate, and to Obama’s support of so-called "gold plated" patents (an idea stemming largely from an article written by Professor Mark Lemley). The Obama surrogates countered, defending "gold plated" patents and pointing to other specific ideas supported by Obama on his website."

Source: http://www.iptoday.com/news-article.asp?id=2828&type=ip

"Whether this is anything more than bluster remains to be seen, but it is not the first time that Sisvel, which has been dubbed Europe’s first patent troll in the past, has sparked controversy over its aggressive use of the law to bring companies to the licensing negotiating table. Similar raids to the one last week were conducted in Hanover earlier this year and in Berlin in 2006. Sisvel has also been active in Italy. And the reason the company does it? Well that's simple: it works. Few would be surprised if in a few weeks we see a notice that Teco and other companies raided in Berlin have become licensees."

Source: http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=5523983a-dfa1-4300-9387-817edba3e325

"It's interesting that AT&T is bragging about its pursuit of "more patents" rather than, say, more R&D spending or more innovation. AT&T isn't exactly known for its record of high-tech innovation, so it's a little surprising to see it hold itself out as a poster child for the patent system—particularly when we remember that AT&T and other telco incumbents have used the patent system to extort tens of millions of dollars from companies like Vonage that are actually innovating."

Source: http://techdirt.com/articles/20080901/1010232136.shtml

"Amazon was awarded a patent Tuesday for its Interactive Time-Limited Merchandising Program and Method for Improved Online Cross-Selling, which appears to be lawyer-speak for presenting customers with one limited-time offer after another until they finally bite on one or decline them all. So be careful - the next time you offer folks 10% off on a garden rake if they purchase it within sixty minutes after declining to buy a saucepan, you could be guilty of patent infringement!"

Source: http://techdirt.com/articles/20080828/092448.shtml

"AT&T patent perpetrators are trying to censor a blogger about their "pursuit of more patents". The blogger has published a picture of an advertisement poster paid by "AT&T Intellectual Property" sponsoring the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week."

Source: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-86401/at-t-patent-perpetrators-tries-to-censor-a-blogger-about-their-pursuit-of-more-patents

"AT&T patent perpetrators are trying to censor a blogger about their "pursuit of more patents". The blogger has published a picture of an advertisement poster paid by "AT&T Intellectual Property" sponsoring the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week."

Source: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-86401/at-t-patent-perpetrators-tries-to-censor-a-blogger-about-their-pursuit-of-more-patents

"McCain is advised by pro-software patent lobbyist Ray Gifford, ex-President of the Progress & Freedom Foundation (a Washington 'think-tank' notably financed by Microsoft lobby proxy CompTIA). Gifford was speaking in a conference Europe about the failed software patent directive with all the pro-software patent lobbyists. Progress & Freedom Foundation runs the IPCentral blog."

Source: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-86361/mccain-advised-by-software-patent-tobacco-lobbyists

"Though Reines told the audience that McCain would try to prevent forum shopping, the prosecution of meritless cases and litigation abuses, Sprigman said that there was no evidence that McCain had ever actually formulated a policy on these matters. He said that Reines' comments were "the rhetorical equivalent of vapourware"."

Source: http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=9401

"Gateway apparatus for facilitating communications using a stateful protocol (e.g., SIP or SIP/SIMPLE protocol). The gateway apparatus includes a plurality of gateway devices and a remote dialog store, wherein each of the plurality of gateway devices comprises export logic for causing dialog information associated with a first received message (e.g., a request or response) to be communicated to the dialog store, and retrieval logic for causing a lookup of the dialog information in response to a second received message, the second received message associated with the first received message. In one example the gateway devices are stateless, thereby relying on the dialog store for validating and routing messages. In another example, the gateway devices are stateful and rely on the dialog store for backup (e.g., if a gateway device crashes). The gateway devices may be configured for receiving and processing messages according to SIP protocol or SIP/SIMPLE protocol."

Source: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080212766.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080212766RS=DN/20080212766

""In addition to the pay-per-call application, our click-to-call patented technology has many other applications, including but not limited to search-engine-results, online directories, websites, advertising banners, auction-site postings, branded desktop buttons, and any communication delivered via email such as newsletters, statements, order confirmations, opt-in email campaigns, all part of the online advertising world. Our patent protection goes back to May 1999. Our portfolio of patents claims the front end to any 'click-to-call' transaction, no matter where the 'click-to-call' technology is utilized," says Liebster."

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-04-2008/0004878623&EDATE=

"Another change is that TiVo won a key lawsuit against Dish Networks. In that lawsuit, a federal court ruled that Dish’s recording devices infringe TiVo software patents. In fact, a hearing begins Thursday in federal district court in the Eastern District of Texas on how the penalties against Dish will be enforced. The ruling encouraged television programming providers like Comcast and DirecTV to reach deals with TiVo, or risk paying their own royalty fees, said Mr. Baker of Gartner."

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/directtv-strikes-deal-to-offer-tivo-recorder/

"Think the current patent process is corrupt, too open to abusive patent-seeking and unduly influenced by corrupt rent-seeking special interests? Well, AT&T is here to disabuse you of that notion: patentreform.jpg Photo snapped at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport."

Source: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/09/att_makes_the_case_for_patent_reform.php

"Attempting a turnaround, Avistar Communications Corp. (DEMO 08) is trying to carve out an identity in the video conferencing world for a new marketing concept it calls "unified communications," while fending off hostile actions by Microsoft Corp., which is challenging Avistar's lifeblood - its patents. To bring in much-needed revenues and boost its stock price, the small San Mateo, CA public company needs to license technology that's covered by its 83 patents worldwide. Its new management team was in conversations in February with Microsoft when the giant without warning changed course and challenged all 29 of Avistar's U.S. patents."

Source: http://www.demo.com/community/?q=node/185247