Patent updates

Posted by Dirk Avery at 12:02 pm under Patent.

Worldwide patent applications increasing

Statistics published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this week show that the number of patent applications filed worldwide has grown significantly in recent years… According to the WIPO Patent Report 2007, the number of worldwide patent filings increased by an average of 4.7 % per year between 1995 and 2005… Together the so-called “big five” offices - China, Japan, the United States, Korea and the EPO - account for 77 % of all applications and 74 % of granted patents.

Apple application suggests GPS may be new iPhone feature

[The application] The system would allow the Podmap user to request directions from a starting location, and the results would be returned in the form of podcast media file which would include visual maps and step by step driving instructions.

Microsoft Office binary formats now free from patent-violation claims

Microsoft said on Friday that it has added Office binary formats to a list of technologies that are protected against patent-violation claims, answering criticism from some involved in the OOXML (Office Open XML) file-format standards process… The OOXML format is being considered as an international standard by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization)… Corporate developers and makers of other office productivity products need access to the formats in order to write converters between Microsoft’s format and the possible standard… Microsoft has listed binary file format specifications for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint… under the OSP (Open Specification Promise)… Microsoft published the OSP in September 2006 as a promise that it would not take any patent-enforcement action against people who want access to the specs for technologies it has developed.

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