Feb
18
Google, Microsoft Sued and Patent Reform
Posted by Irene Soto at 10:29 pm under Litigation, Patent.
Google, Microsoft Sued Over Keyword Auction Patent
Paid Search Engine Tools LLC, a corporation based in Liberty Township, Ohio, filed a patent-infringement claim against Google and Microsoft in the Eastern District of Texas. The company claims that Google’s AdWords and Microsoft’s AdCenter advertising services violate its “Paid Search Engine Bid Management” patent.
The patent, U.S. Patent No. […]
Feb
18
2008 Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees
Posted by Irene Soto at 4:37 pm under Events, Patent.
Last week, Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO and officials of the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) announced the sixteen inductees of the 2008 Inventors Hall of Fame. The inventors will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame on May 3rd in Akron, Ohio. The seven […]
Feb
17
In memory of the mixtape
Posted by Irene Soto at 3:32 pm under Technology.
“The Mixtape is a fine art that is threatened by the loss of the medium. Two channel analog magnetic tape is disappearing in favor of MP3 files. A mixtape is a snapshot of your musical and social tastes during the brief period in which you created it. That summer in 1992, maybe your mixtape was […]
Feb
13
Patenting Patent Notices
Posted by Irene Soto at 2:41 pm under Internet, Patent.
I ran a title search for the term “patent” in the PTO database (some people play solitaire during class, I search for ridiculous patents) and stumbled upon U.S. Patent 7,130,830 titled “Providing notice of patent rights.”
This patent covers a method for notifying a user of a device that the device is covered by a patent. […]
Feb
13
Goodbye Polaroid!
Posted by Irene Soto at 8:01 am under Technology.
Sad news. ”Polaroid Corp., the Massachusetts company that gave the world instant film photography, is shutting down its film manufacturing lines in the state and abandoning the technology that made the company famous.”
The company is closing two facilities, laying off 150 employees, and will begin to focus on flat-panel TVs and digital photography gear. According to […]
Feb
11
The World of Widgets
Posted by Irene Soto at 5:16 pm under Internet, Patent.
It’s nearly impossible to survive a patent law class without hearing a boring hypothetical involving a “widget.” After hearing a professor refer to this strange term for the 7,638th time, I decided it was time to learn what it meant.
Some research revealed that there are many definitions.
According to www.dictionary.com, a widget is:
short for window […]
Feb
11
Lessig’s Last Free Culture Talk
Posted by Irene Soto at 3:04 pm under Copyright, Events.
“Creative Commons founder and Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig [gave] his final presentation on Free Culture, Copyright and the future of ideas at Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium on January 31st, 2008 from 1pm-2pm. After 10 years of enlightening and inspiring audiences around the world with multi-media presentations that inspired the Free Culture movement, Professor Lessig is moving on […]
Feb
6
Way to go, eBay!
Posted by Irene Soto at 2:51 pm under Internet.
At the end of an eBay auction transaction, the seller and buyer are able to rate each other by leaving “Feedback,” a short comment and a positive, negative, or netural rating. These ratings are used to calculate each user’s Feedback Score:
Members earn different colored stars as the Feedback Score increases: 10 for […]
Feb
5
UPDATE: Tafas v. Dudas; SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Dudas, 07–cv-0846 (E.D.Va 2007)
Posted by Irene Soto at 11:41 am under Litigation, Patent.
Dec. 20, 2007: Cross-motions for Summary Judgment filed
Jan. 9, 2008: Tafas’s Objection to Magistrate Judge Jones’s Opinion and Order Denying Tafas’s Motion to Compel and Quashing Tafas’s Notices of Depositions for Senior USPTO Officials DENIED.
Jan.22, 2008: Responses to SJ motions filed
Feb. 1, 2008: Replies to Response to SJ motions filed
Jan. 18, 2008: Tafas files Motion […]
Feb
4
Dear Senate, Love George
Posted by Irene Soto at 4:27 pm under Patent.
Today, the Bush Administration weighed in on the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145) in a letter to the Senate.
Summary
The Administration [conditionally] supports:
Applicant quality submissions provisions
Small entity exemption from basic information requirements
Inequitable conduct (concerned about sufficient sanctions for misconduct and use of the vague “important to the reasonable examiner” standard for materiality)
Fee-setting authorityfor the USPTO
Post-Grant […]