New examples of patent trolls and patent boosters (possibly even lobbyists) putting a form of patent tax on the de facto universal platform which is free Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures, which is funded and made with Microsoft’s investments (Myhrvold is Microsoft’s former CTO), is expanding the pyramid scheme by signing a patent deal with HTC. The Register says:
Read more »Eye on Patents: Broken System as Shown by New Evidence
http://techrights.org –
Additional signs of a dysfunctional system which grants and manages patents too poorly
We lack the time to cover all the patent stories which seem to matter, so here is just a list of links.
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Red Hat’s secret patent deal and the fate of JBoss developers
http://gigaom.com –
When patent troll Acacia sued Red Hat in 2007, it ended with a bang: Acacia’s patents were invalidated by the court, and all software developers, open-source or not, had one less legal risk to cope with. So, why is the outcome of Red Hat’s next tangle with Acacia being kept secret, and how is a Texas court helping to keep it that way?
Read more »Gemalto files patent infringement lawsuit over Android
http://www.gemalto.com –
Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Google, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung for use of Gemalto's innovations in the Android operating system, Dalvik virtual machine and associated development tools and products.
Read more »FSFE: Fighting software patents at WIPO
http://blogs.fsfe.org –
When we get to explain our views in the plenary, we are after all speaking to 200-300 diplomats and specialist policy makers from around the world. You don’t get many opportunities to explain to such a crowd why software patents are a bad idea, or why patents in software standards must be licensed royalty-free and without restrictions on their use.
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EU to push patent-free eGovernment
http://www.euractiv.com –
The European Union is on the cusp of writing public procurement rules which favour patent- and royalty-free technologies, according to software giants who argue that the rules echo Chinese public procurement laws.
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FSFE’s statement on the relation between standards and patents at WIPO SCP/15
http://blogs.fsfe.org –
Software standards must be implementable in any software or business model, including those based on Free Software. When patents are included in software standards, they need to be licensed in a manner that doesn’t restrict their implementation in any way. Besides the absence of any other restriction, that means royalty-free licensing to any party implementing the standard.
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Legal Terrorism Microsoft Style
http://planet.gnu.org –
Microsoft is transforming from a proprietary software vendor into a litigation house, using the mere threat of patent lawsuits to effectively extort payments like a modern day Al Capone.
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Over 450 letters sent to the USPTO proposing guidelines to end software patents
http://www.fsf.org –
Last week, we put out an action item asking people to write to the USPTO, and explain to them why software should not be eligible for patents under their forthcoming post-Bilski guidance. To answer the call, you all sent in more than 450 letters, offering the USPTO all kinds of legal and practical reasons why they should stop issuing software patents.
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Encourage the USPTO to stop issuing software patents
http://www.fsf.org –
Following the Supreme Court's decision in Bilski v. Kappos, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) plans to release new guidance as to which patent applications will be accepted, and which will not. As part of this process, they are seeking input from the public about how that guidance should be structured.
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Stallman crashes European Patent session
http://www.itnews.com.au –
Richard Stallman made an unexpected appearance at a European Patent Office presentation in Brisbane today.
Stallman, pictured, who was also due to address the World Computer Congress later in the day, carried a placard that said: "Don't get caught in software patent thickets".
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The Threat to Software Freedom
http://blogs.sitepoint.com –
While free software automatically qualifies as a solution to vendor lock-in, monopolistic practices, prohibitive licensing fees, digital rights management, and a variety of other technological issues, the philosophy and ideals it stands for directly conflict with many companies’ traditional business model of selling software licenses.
Read more »It’s True, Android is Not Free (Because of Microsoft Patent Extortion)
http://techrights.org –
New FUD from Microsoft staff and a reminder of what it is that really puts a price tag on Android (and it's not Google)
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FSF responds to Oracle v. Google and the threat of software patents
http://www.fsf.org –
As you likely heard on any number of news sites, Oracle has filed suit against Google, claiming that Android infringes some of its Java-related copyrights and patents. Too little information is available about the copyright infringement claim to say much about it yet; we expect we'll learn more as the case proceeds.
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Category: Legal Tags:
Microsoft Uses Linux to ‘Succeed’
http://techrights.org –
Microsoft uses Linux-powered phones not just to make income (patent tax) but also to spread Microsoft propaganda, which includes Linux insults
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