It is unclear how the release of a Senate draft proposing to remove or change some key reforms from the patent reform bill previously reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be received in Congress. So far House Judiciary leaders have alerted their Senate colleagues publicly that they want to see changes. In the…
Much ink has been spilled over the future of the Google Book Settlement, but never before has anyone attempted to squeeze it onto one page. This flow chart, by Jon Band for the Library Copyright Alliance, maps out many of the possible legal outcomes in this important case. Check it out at www.librarycopyrightalliance.org
Since Steve Lohr’s New York Times critique on Intellectual Ventures, last month the blogosphere has lit up with discussion about back door schemes to file or threaten to file patent lawsuits. Revelations of IV’s skyrocketing lobbying expenses and political contributions as well as new strategy of licensing patents to lawsuit-happy NPEs have prompted a flurry of anti-IV sentiment.…
Ever had a leaky ceiling? You can place a bucket under it and delay the inevitable, but ultimately the steady dripping is going to take its toll and that bucket is going to overflow. Eventually, the ceiling may even collapse. The latest drip in the unraveling of secretive Intellectual Ventures came last week in the…
Yesterday we talked about how the 2007 legislation would have helped deal with growing patent damage awards. We’re focusing on the 2007 legislation now as it had stronger provisions to deal with some of the worst problems. The House bill also would have made apportionment of damages a major aspect of the new damage regime;…
There has been much discussion and escalating controversy in recent years about patent damage awards for infringement. With each iteration of proposed patent law reforms, Congress has become increasingly aware of the impact patent damages have in modern business. This is particularly true in light of the role NPE’s (patent trolls) play in the system…
We couldn’t help but chuckle at The Huffington Post’s post on ridiculous patents the PTO has granted recently. It’s just good old-fashioned fun to vote on whether the “apparatus for waking a sleeping driver by electric shock” or “doll urn” is the more absurd idea for a patent (although in our view, the “tricycle mower”…
In today’s New York Times, Steve Lohr has a write up and a blog post about the highly controversial ‘Intellectual Ventures.’ Due to their intensively secretive nature and unusual business models (Lohr reports: “Intellectual Ventures, a secretive $5 billion investment firm has scooped up 30,000 patents, inspire admiration and angst,” as a result “Several analysts say that Intellectual Ventures…
With just a couple lines at last month’s State of the Union Address, President Obama provided some crucial momentum for patent reform. Obama stressed that jobs start from the bottom up, when workers tap into their entrepreneurial spirit and transform big ideas into real action. This is a simple formula: innovation = jobs. The problem is…
This is an necessary category.
This is an non-necessary category.
