“End Software Patents” Group Lanches and Sparks Debate

The group “End Software Patents” was born recently and asserted that (1) software patent lawsuits result in $11.26 billion in costs; (2) non-software companies are increasingly targeted for software patent infringement suits; and (3) the USPTO and the US Supreme Court [link] do not support software patentability. [Report]

Joff Wild of IAM questions the 11.26 […]

IAM on In re Bilski: Tightening The Standards For Software Patents

Joff Wild of IAM Magazine predicts that the Federal Circuit’s en banc rehearing of the In re Bilsk case signals a move to restrict the patentability of software and business methods. He predicts that the Federal Circuits decision will bring the United States closer in line with how Europe treats this subject matter.
He provides the […]

Suburban Networking: Silicon Prairie Social 2

Today, the Silicon Prairie Social organizers announced their second technology networking event in the western Chicago suburbs. It’s happing on Thursday, January 24, 2008 from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm at Mullen’s Bar & Grill in Lisle.
The purpose of the event is build mutually-beneficial business relationships between attendees. It is targeted at upwardly mobile tech […]

Suburban Networking: Silicon Prairie Social

Tonight, the first Silicon Prairie Social was held at Mullen’s Bar and Grill in Lisle, Illinois. Similar to the Tech Cocktail events in Chicago, the Silicon Prairie Social was designed to connect "tech professionals, entrepreneurs, service providers, Internet professionals, Web 2.0 and startup companies, the mobile industry, and mobile marketing professionals." The goals of the […]

Peer-to-Patent Pilots in Europe

Linux.com a has review of the Peer-to-Patent pilot, which I reported on earlier. Beth Noveck of the New York Law School, a leader in establishing the pilot, is noted in the article saying that the UK Patent office will launch a similar pilot for UK patents. She also expects that the European Patent Office will […]

Product Firms More Likely To Patent Than Service Firms

Business Professor John R. Allison, Economist Abe Dunn, and Law Professor Ronald J. Mann posted their article “Software Patents, Incumbents, and Entry” on SSRN. The article provides data showing that product based firms (e.g. Microsoft) are more likely to seek and obtain software patents than service based firms (e.g. EDS).
The article examined the […]

Patenting Software Security Fixes

The Register reports on a company called Intellectual Weapons, which offers to patent fixes for newly discovered security vulnerabilities, weaknesses, or technical flaws in software. Then the company will seek to license the fixes to vendors of the vulnerable products and other security providers.
Intellectual Weapons describes their process:

You submit vulnerabilities you have discovered, without […]