Eric Waltmire
19% of INC 500 Companies Report Holding Patents
Inc. Magazine reports, in its September 2010 issue that 19% of the companies ranked in the magazine’s “Inc 500″ list hold patents. This is reported on page 188 of the print magazine as a part of the CEO survey. On page 126, it is reported that the CEO survey component of the Inc. 500 list [...]
Software Patent News for January 27th
IBM Offers Patent Portfolio Management Software to Clients – [IBM] – “IBM also announced that, for the first time, it will offer its invention know-how and patent portfolio management software to clients seeking to enhance their intellectual property (IP) management capabilities in support of innovation-based growth strategies.” Mozilla’s VP of Engineering On Patented H.264 Video [...]
Software Patent News for December 28th
Abandoning software patents? [Patent Law Blog (Patently-O)] – ” . . . The Supreme Court isn’t obliged to rule on the patentability of software ideas. Bilski’s patent is a business method patent, not a software patent. So why might the court make a broad ruling which would cover software? For people who are already aware [...]
Software Patent News for September 22nd
Patent Auctions Offer Protections to Inventors [NYTimes.com] – "…Wrangling over patents is beginning to move out of the courtroom and into the marketplace. A flurry of new companies and investment groups has sprung up to buy, sell, broker, license and auction patents. And venture capital and private equity is starting to pour into the field…"
Software Patent News for August 12th
Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word [CNET News] – "A judge on Tuesday [August 11, 2008] ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement. . . . [The Court] issued a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United [...]
Software Patent News for July 18th
Man Files Patent for iPod-Like Device in 1979 [Gizmodo] – ". . .Kane Kramer, an inventor by trade, came up with a gadget and music distribution service almost eerily similar to the iPod-iTunes relationship that predates it by three decades. The guy predicted details down to DRM and flash memory's dominance."
U.S. District Court Invalidates Computer Aided Method of Managing a Credit Application under Bilski
Dealertrack, Inc. v. Huber, et al., Doc. No. 06-2335 (C.D. Cal. 2009) [PDF] Summary. The court granted summary judgment finding the asserted claims directed to a computer aided method of managing a credit application were invalid as failing the machine-or-transformation test from Bilski. The court found the process claims were not tied to a particular [...]
Software Patent News for July 8th
Software Patent News for July 8th: Microsoft Puts C#, CLI Under No-Lawsuit Umbrella [TechNewsWorld] – "Microsoft stated Tuesday that it will not pursue legal action against open source software developers using C# and CLI programming languages. This will likely make some developers much more confident in using the technologies. However, the promise does not include [...]
Software Patent News for July 7th
Software Patent Bits for July 7th: Start-up Entrepreneurs & CEO’s: If Your Goal is Investment or Acquisition, You are Probably Patenting the Wrong Things [IP Asset Maximizer Blog] – “The great majority of patent seekers (including those at otherwise sophisticated large companies) believe that patents are best used to keep others off their ‘technology lawns’.” [...]
Software Patent News for July 4th
Software Patent Bits for July 4th: Bilski at the BPAI – What a Mess (Part 1) – [The 271 Patent Blog] – "…the process of determining patentable subject matter after Bilski has become a weird, metaphysical endeavor. It has gotten to the point that a given claim may receive 4 different interpretations from 4 different [...]