27 Dec 2008
Google, Apple, Microsoft Sued Over File Preview

You can't see what's in your files - we have a patent on that!

Ridiculous.

A small Indiana company has sued tech heavyweights Microsoft, Apple, and Google, claiming that it holds the patent on a common file preview feature used by browsers and operating systems to show users small snapshots of the files before they are opened. ... Cygnus's owner and president Gregory Swartz developed the technology laid out in the patent while working on IT consulting projects, McAndrews said. The company is looking for 'a reasonable royalty' as well as a court injunction preventing further infringement, he said. ... Cygnus applied for its patent (# 7346850) in 2001. It covers a 'System and method for iconic software environment management' and was granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office in March of this year.

(link) [Slashdot]

09:45 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

21 Nov 2008
Company sues Facebook over somethingorother

Oh, boy! They've got a patent on "dynamic association of electronically stored information with iterative workflow change". What the Hel does that mean? Who knows?! Better let the lawyers figure it out!

Morons.

A Ohio-based technology company is suing Facebook for copyright infringement, claiming it invented the platform the insanely popular social networking site uses to store and manage information.

(link) [The Register]

07:30 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

31 Oct 2008
Federal Circuit Appeals Court Limits Business-Method Patents

We're getting there ...

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has just issued its much-anticipated opinion in In Re Bilski [PDF]. This was a re-visit of the State Street issue of what constitutes patentable subject matter (including whether software and business methods are patentable). In summary, the court has affirmed and strengthened the 'machine-or-transformation' test, upholding the patent office's rejection of claims on a method to hedging risk in the field of commodities trading. Although the court refused to categorically exclude software patents, it is likely that the reasoning of this decision will be used to reject many software patents (note that some of the dissenting judges would have completely overturned State Street and tossed out all software and business method patents). Although not as sweeping as some had hoped for, it is certain that this decision, along with the Supreme Court's KSR decision last year, will lay a difficult mine field for those who want to patent software and business methods.

(link) [Slashdot]

08:12 /Copywrongs | 1 comment | permanent link

24 Oct 2008
Fee Award Shows Risks of Exposing Threadbare Patents to Light of Litigation

This is the way the system's supposed to work - the problem is that it all too rarely works this way.

In a rare grant of legal fees in a patent case, a federal judge in New Jersey has held a plaintiff clothing company liable for up to $2.5 million it cost competitors and retailers to defeat an infringement claim over a garment for nursing mothers.

(link) [Law.com]

via Overlawyered

06:31 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

23 Oct 2008
Feds Target Mongols Gang Trademark

OK, but why would an outlaw motorcycle gang trademark their logo? These are the kinds of fellows who will kill you for farting in their general direction - were they seriously going to sic lawyers on folks who made "logoware"? I would've thought they'd just burn down the warehouse containing it!

I'd love to see a litigation history on this trademark - and I'd hate to be the lawyer who lost a case for the club defending it!

Reuters [has an] account of a Federal raid on a California-based motorcycle club, the Mongols, on charges "ranging from murder and robbery to extortion, money laundering, gun trafficking and drug dealing." The interesting twist is that the authorities are asking the courts to seize the IP of the biker club — specifically, their trademarked name "Mongols." "Federal agents and police in seven states arrested more than 60 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang on Tuesday in a sweep that also targeted for the first time an outlaw group's 'intellectual property,' prosecutors said. The arrests cap a three-year undercover investigation in which US agents posed as gang members and their girlfriends to infiltrate the group, even submitting to polygraph tests administered by the bikers... [T]he name 'Mongols,' which appears on the gang's arm patch insignia, was trademarked by the group. The indictment seeks a court order outlawing further use of the name, which would allow any police officer 'who sees a Mongol wearing this patch... to stop that gang member and literally take the jacket right off his back'...

(link) [Slashdot]

06:52 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

18 Oct 2008
RIAA Decries Texas Woman as 'Vexatious' for Demanding File Sharing Trial

There's a vexatious litigant here alright, but methinks it's not the defendant.

The Recording Industry Association of America is calling a Texas woman "vexatious" for wanting to defend herself at trial against a file sharing charge instead of settling for $7,400. The woman is now a 22-year-old university student, and the allegations concern her use of a file sharing program when she was allegedly between 14 and 16 years old.

(link) [Wired: Top Stories]

07:49 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

14 Oct 2008
Bush Signs Law Creating Copyright Czar

Just what we don't need.

President Bush signs legislation Monday creating a cabinet-level copyright czar on par with the U.S. drug czar.

(link) [Wired]

06:28 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

07 Oct 2008
Amazon patents 'customer review incentives'

Ridiculous: a patent on automatically saying "Thanks!" for a review others find useful. I wonder if this would cover automatically saying "Piss off" for reviews that others found unhelpful?

Morons...

The self-described patent reform advocates at Amazon.com don't seem to have broken their habit of putting legal hooks on just about anything they dream up.

(link) [The Register]

07:03 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

01 Oct 2008
Trolling: A Massive Redistribution of the Wealth

What d'ya know? A patent attorney seems the light at the end of the tunnel, and realizes it's an oncoming freight...

Let’s be perfectly honest, the US patent system has stopped rewarding innovation and has started rewarding those who have the finances and ability to game the system. That is a huge problem and one that needs to be addressed far more quickly than any other problem facing us. I have been saying for years that the manufacturing jobs are not coming back and that we need to focus on those areas where we can grow jobs and the economy, and that space is the innovation space. Innovation is at the core of growth because discoveries lead to inventions which lead to new technologies which lead to the creation of new industry which leads to the creation of high paying jobs. A rising tide lifts all boats and the tide that is going to lift the US economy is the innovation tide, so we need to start focusing on that and putting in place an environment that will allow innovation to thrive. This of course means a functioning patent system that recognizes worthwhile inventions, but it also requires that we put a stop to so-called patent trolls.

(link) [Patent Fools]

via Overlawyered

06:56 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

14 Sep 2008
Apple Declares DRM War On Sneaker Hackers

What's next? Demanding a surgically implanted RFID tag to match show to foot and prevent "unauthorized" wear?

Apple has applied for a patent to - no joke - extend digital rights management to tennis shoes and other articles of clothing. "What is desired," the patent application says, "is a method of electronically pairing a sensor and an authorized garment."

(link) [Rough Type]

10:03 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

30 Aug 2008
Chronicling the Failures of DRM

An excellent summary of the state of DRM - although focused on the UK, it's conclusions are certainly applicable to the rest of the world. as well.

Barence takes us to PCPro for a look at the failures of DRM and a discussion of its impending death. Quoting: "Luckily, DRM is dying, at least in the download sphere. Napster's Dan Nash believes that DRM-free is 'the general way things are going.' In his opinion, record companies 'have no choice but to adapt;' those that 'stick to DRM on a pay-per-download basis will not remain competitive.' In the US, Napster has joined Amazon in selling DRM-free content in MP3 format from all the major labels. ... Going DRM-free makes sense not just for consumers, but for the industry. Deutche Telekom says three out of four technical support calls its Musicload service had to deal with were the result of DRM. And when it offered a DRM-free option to artists they saw a 40% increase in sales."

(link) [Slashdot]

07:31 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

28 Aug 2008
Judah 'Visual Voicemail' Klausner sues Google, Verizon, Citrix...

I ran into this idiot back in the day - a true patent troll.

Suing communication providers over alleged patent infringements has worked pretty well for Judah Klausner.

(link) [The Register]

06:31 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

06 Aug 2008
Paper or Plastic?

How can anybody still seriously believe that "business method" patents (aka software patents) are a good idea?

On Tuesday, IBM was granted US Patent No. 7,407,089 for storing a preference for paper or plastic grocery bags on customer cards and displaying a picture of said preference after a card is scanned. The invention, Big Blue explains, eliminates the 'unnecessary inconvenience for both the customer and the cashier' that results when 'Paper or Plastic?' must be asked. The patent claims also cover affixing a cute sticker of a paper or plastic bag to a customer card to indicate packaging preferences.

(link) [Slashdot]

06:17 /Copywrongs | 1 comment | permanent link

10 May 2008
Los Angeles Says Piracy 'Detrimental to the Public Health, Safety'

OK, I'm convinced! The entertainment industry really has lost it's collective mind. As if this story we're proof enough, I offer this sordid tale from the Grey Lady herself: apparently the execs from NBC/Universal have slept through the last decade and still think DRM is a great idea, and apparently the Evil Empire itself is backing the assertion. Which is hilarious, in light of the fate of their previous DRM effort.

Los Angeles County, following New York's lead, is declaring property a public nuisance if it's used to counterfeit copyrighted music and videos. Among the reasons: "It's detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare" of the public at large. Penalties range up to $1,000 for violation and properties can be shuttered.

(link) [Wired]

08:20 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

07 May 2008
Who Owns Software?

This could get really crazy if the court fails to see the implications of ruling against a program that "cheats" ...

SeeSp0tRun writes to remind us of Blizzard's lawsuit against MDY Industries over the Glider cheat. It seems that Blizzard is pushing it even further. They're trying out the legal theory that a software creator retains complete control over how a program is used, meaning that anyone who uses it in a different way could be found guilty of copyright infringement, at $750 a pop. The EFF and Public Knowledge are among the organizations trying to assure that the court doesn't set a really bad precedent here.

(link) [Slashdot]

07:07 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

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