SSP: Examiners to demonstrate against broken governance of the EPO next 18th September in Brussels - "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."

SSP: BSA lobbies Obama for software patents at the Democratic Convention in Denver - "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."

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

SSP: McCain senior advisor Carleton Fiorina - "Carly Fiorina found that more patents mean more innovation, so she started patent inflation policy at HP. Now she advises McCain."

Mashable: Patent Troll Strikes Again! Targets: AOL, Digg, Google, and Yahoo! - "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."

PCWorld: Patent Holders Cut Some DVD Licensing Rates - "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."

IPToday: Special Feature: Intellectual Property Policy and the Presidential Election - A Discussion - "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."

IAM: Philips could be in the firing line after Sisvel's Berlin patent raids - "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."

Techdirt: Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of More Patents? - "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."

Techdirt: Amazon Granted 1-Hour Offer Patent - "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!"