USPTO Resources for Small Business

The USPTO has launched a program to encourage and help small businesses get easy-to-understand information in intellectual property issues.

About the program:

[T]he USPTO has launched a nationwide program to encourage small businesses to recognize and consider the benefits of strong IP protection-both domestically and abroad. Specifically, the USPTO wants businesses to know:

    * When to apply;
    * What type of protection to apply for;
    * Where to apply; and
    * How to apply.

As part of the campaign, the USPTO has developed this Web site to help small businesses better identify and address their IP protection needs.

Hat tip: The Entrepreneurial Mind.

Privatizing the PTO, a Bad Idea?

rethink(ip) asks whether privatizing the PTO is a bad idea:

If Congress can't improve the process/quality by allowing the PTO to keep the user fees and use it to improve quality and service, let's innovate around them.

Head over a let them know what you think.

IBM Exec Praises Software Patents

Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a VP at IBM, writes in his blog on the topic of software patents:

When thinking about software patents, the focus should be on the quality of the idea being patented, not on whether it is about software or is being expressed as a software computer program. A number of functions that in the past could only be done in hardware are now being carried out in software due to advances in technology and programming tools. If the function was innovative enough to legitimately qualify for a patent when expressed in hardware, it should still merit a patent if now carried in software. . . .

I am concerned that if we eliminate software patents, an unintended consequence will be a slowing of innovation in services, business solutions, business processes, and similar new fields of endeavor, and will cause people applying for legitimate patents in these areas to attempt to express their ideas in some other less precise way just to avoid their being viewed as software innovations.

Patent regimes around the world, especially in the US, are in dire need of reform. We should focus all our energies on getting this done and not let the debates over software patents divert us from that very important task.

Prior posts:
    Aug. 31, 2005 - Don't Fear Software Patents.
    June 20, 2005 - Comparing Software Patents to 19th Century Literature Patents.
    June 5, 2005 - Software Patents Will Not Kill Open Source Software.

IBM, WARF Settle Patent Infringement Suit

Star Tribune writes:

International Business Machines Corp. on Tuesday became the latest company to settle charges of infringing a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin's research arm in making computer chips.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which owns patents granted to UW researchers, had accused IBM in a federal lawsuit of infringing on patented technology in making and selling copper-based chips.

More: WARF.

France Declares War on US Content Industry

Jacques Chirac is apparently fed up with Hollywood and the rest of the American content industry supplanting European culture. And so the race is on to build a counter-weapon: a government-sponsored eurocentric search engine.

The Telegraph writes:

French president Jacques Chirac yesterday pledged to help fund a new European internet search engine to rival Google and Yahoo as he railed against what he sees as the threat of Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism. . . .

Mr Chirac's intention is to provide forgivable loans to a Franco-German "multimedia search engine for the internet".

Between the Lines responds:

Next, Chirac . . . is going to claim that Google and Yahoo are hiding WMD in their algorithms. Cultural imperialism is a scourge, but creating another multimedia search engine and fomenting a search technology arms race is not a solution.

Prior posts:
    Aug. 30, 2005 - Chirac Pleas with High Tech Business to Stay in France.
    Apr. 3, 2005 - Googlephobia in France.

Update: More at IP Democracy:

French President Jacques Chirac is on a crusade to stamp out Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism by mounting European competition to Google and Yahoo. I kid you not.

Update (Sept. 2): Apparently, Google is listening to the European complaints, as Yahoo! News (AP) reports:

Google Inc. is asking European book publishers to submit non-English material to its Internet-leading search engine — a move that may ease worries about the company's digital library relying too heavily on Anglo-American content. . . .

Google hopes to substantially increase the volume of non-English books in its database . . . .

If Google achieves that objective, it could mute European critics who sniped at the company earlier this year for giving a top priority to scanning English-language books.

More: Slashdot.

Microsoft's Public Policy Goals: Help Foster Growth and Innovation

Microsoft discusses its top legislative issues - free trade, spyware, cybersecurity, patent reform, and research.

On patent reform:

We have four primary goals.

First, we want to ensure high patent quality, in part by making certain that the Patent Office has the resources it needs to examine increasingly complex patent applications in the technology space. Second, we support efforts to curb excessive litigation and litigation abuses that have emerged in the patent space. Third, we want to see greater harmonization of the various patent systems around the world. And finally, we support legislation to increase access to the patent system for small inventors.

Check out the rest, which provides a nice overview of the important policy issues facing US technology companies today.

Microsoft to Develop Law Enforcement Portal

CNet News writes:

Expanding its efforts to help law enforcement with cybercrime investigations, Microsoft plans in the coming months to launch a new online resource.

The Web site will include training, tips and tools for investigations and information on cybercrime, Richard LaMagna, director of worldwide law enforcement programs at Microsoft, said in an interview with CNET News.com on Wednesday at the annual High Technology Crime Investigation Association event here. . . .

The new Law Enforcement Portal should be online by November.

Prior post:
    Apr. 7, 2005 - Microsoft's Child Exploitation Tracking System to Help Police Fight Child Pornography.

Don't Fear Software Patents

says the former Patent Commissioner Bruce Lehman in an August 30 Wall St. Journal editorial (subscription required to access online).

The Patent Prospector provides a nice summary for us.

States Encourage Internet Tax

Yahoo! News (AP) reports:

Come this fall, 13 states will start encouraging — though not demanding — that online businesses collect sales taxes just as Main Street stores are required to do, and more states are considering joining the effort. . . .

The states are offering businesses a promise — and an implicit threat. If businesses register and start collecting taxes this year, they're given a yearlong amnesty from the possibility that states may seek back taxes for online purchases.

The 13 states include Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

Prior posts:
    Apr. 19, 2005 - Senators Introduce Bill to Extend Ban on Internet Taxes.
    Feb. 28, 2005 - Are We Ready for an Internet Tax?.

Obtaining a Patent in 30 Days or Less

IP Counsel discusses an article written by Joseph Berghammer of Banner & Witcoff titled Speeding the Patent Process [pdf - Aug. 2005]:

[A]pplying the “follow-up and follow-up again” strategy in the Swiss Office may result in patent applications that publish in less than 30 days. . . .

Thus, by filing a patent application in Geneva, it may be possible to toll the start date for acquiring damages in as early as 30 days.

754 More RIAA P2P File-sharing Lawsuits

reports Reuters, bringing the total to over 14,000.

Prior posts:
    Aug. 29, 2005 - RIAA v. Soccer Mom - The Transcript.
    Aug. 26, 2005 - More P2P File-sharing Lawsuits.
    Aug. 22, 2005 - College Students Still Downloading Music Illegally.

Update: More at Slashdot.

A Key to Good Patent Drafting

from Anything Under the Sun Made by Man.

Did MPAA and RIAA Design Windows Vista?

asks osViews, which writes:

For the first time, the Windows operating system will wall off some audio and video processes almost completely from users and outside programmers, in hopes of making them harder for hackers to reach.

Update: RealTechNews asks if the DRM features in Microsoft OS's mean the end of fair use.

Lessig: The Grokster Pundits Are Idiots

In back-to-back Lessig posts...

Lessig writes a Wired article titled The Rotten Ruling:

Pundits bathed the Court in praise for its "sensible balance" between the demands of Hollywood and the pleas of technologists. The pundits are idiots. The Grokster case revealed the worst in Supreme Court ivory towerism. Astonishingly, hardly anyone noticed.

Hat tip: eLegal Canton.

Prior posts:
    Aug. 25, 2005 - The "Chilling Effect" of Grokster.
    Aug. 22. 2005 - Grokster Cited in Federal Circuit Case.
    June 29, 2005 - Grokster Bloggers Like Lab Monkeys on Meths.

Lessig on the Public Domain

Lessig writes a piece in the September/October edition of Foreign Policy titled The Public Domain:

Within every culture, there is a public domain—a lawyer-free zone, unregulated by the rules of copyright. Throughout history, this part of culture has been vital to the spread and development of creative work. It is the part that gets cultivated without the permission of anyone else. . . .

It is essential to how cultures develop.

EpicRealm and Dynamic Web Page Patent Litigation Update

vnunet provides an update on EpicRealm, and the litigation surrounding its patents covering broad aspects of dynamic web pages:

If the patents are upheld in court, they could apply to "most modern ecommerce sites that are involved in dynamic web page generation and caching," said Ira Rothken, founder of the Rothken Law Firm that is representing Friendfinder.

Friendfinder is one of the defendants in the lawsuits, which were brought earlier this year against a total of 12 defendants.

More: The two EpicRealm patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,894,554 and U.S. Patent No. 6,415,335.

Chirac Pleas with High Tech Business to Stay in France

LA Times reports:

The president [Jacques Chirac] reserved a pointed message for France's blue-chip companies, which in many cases have substantial operations outside French territory.

"It's time for you to invest more and better in research on our soil," Chirac said. "I don't see any contradiction between the international nature of your business ... and the privileged link you must retain and strengthen with France."

"Everything favors the situating of high-technology operations in France and Europe," Chirac told business leaders. "I'm counting on you."

Nintendo Patents Video Game Insanity

U.S. Patent No. 6,935,954:

A video game and game system incorporating a game character's sanity level that is affected by occurrences in the game such as encountering a game creature or gruesome situation. A character's sanity level is modified by an amount determined based on a character reaction to the occurrence such as taking a rest or slowing game progress and/or an amount of character preparation. . . . As the character's sanity level decreases, game play is effected such as by controlling game effects, audio effects, creating hallucinations and the like. . . .

More: Slashdot.

A Brief History of Cyberlaw

by Orin Kerr at Balkinization.

Hat tip: Volokh Conspiracy.

Creative's Zen Patent May Be Trouble for Apple

Creative Technology announces:

Creative Technology . . . today announced that it has been awarded U.S. Patent 6,928,433, which Creative is referring to as the "Zen™ Patent." The Zen Patent was awarded to Creative for its invention of the user interface for portable media players, including many of the Creative Zen and NOMAD® Jukebox MP3 players, and found in some competing players, such as the Apple iPod and iPod mini. The Zen Patent covers the user interface that enables users of portable media players to efficiently and intuitively navigate among and select tracks on the players.

More: U.S. Patent No. 6,928,433 [pdf].

More: engadget.

Update (Aug. 31, 2005): Techdirt calls Creative's patent nothing more than a publicity campaign.

iSuppli: Semiconductor IP Market Growing

EE Times writes:

The market for semiconductor intellectual property (IP) is set to grow to more than $2.04 billion in 2009 from $1.2 billion in 2004, according to market research company iSuppli Corp.

More: iSuppli.

Hunsaker: New Definition of Prior Art Promotes Imitation Not Innovation

Kelly C. Hunsaker writes a piece titled Taking Care of Business, which takes a look at the Patent Reform Act of 2005.

Hunsaker believes the Act "goes a long way toward addressing many troubling aspects of the current patent system." Hunsaker, however, does take issue with a new limitation on prior art.

New Section 102(b) states that subject matter is publicly known only when it becomes "reasonably and effectively accessible," i.e., a person of ordinary skill in the art must be able to "gain access to" and "comprehend" the subject matter without resort to "undue efforts."

On this new limitation, Hunsaker writes:

This proposed "clarification" of prior art is about as clear as mud. It breeds uncertainty and, many will argue, drastically narrows the body of prior art. . . .

The bottom line is that the redefinition rewards imitation, and would be litigated for the next decade to show otherwise.

Prior posts:
    Aug. 29, 2005 - Patent Reform Act Amendment to Make Inequitable Conduct a Circus.
    Aug. 24, 2005 - Cringely: Patent Reform Unfair to Absent-Minded Inventors.
    Aug. 23, 2005 - Draft Amendment to Patent Act of 2005 Circulating.

Chinese Anti-Online Game Addiction System Sets 3-Hour Time Limit

vnunet.com reports:

China is limiting the amount of time gamers can spend online in an attempt to cut down the phenomenon of marathon gaming.

According to reports from China's Interfax press agency, from October the government will introduce penalties for those who play an online game for more than three hours. Once the time limit has been reached the characters in the game start to lose their powers and, after five hours, games will flash up a warning message every 15 minutes.

The gamers are starting to protest.

Game Politics writes:

Interfax is reporting today, however, that Chinese WoW players have begun an Internet petition drive to protest the government action. . . .

As of Monday, over 1,000 Chinese gamers had signed the petition.

RIAA v. Soccer Mom - The Transcript

I blogged last week about a mom (Patricia Santangelo) not willing to settle with the record industries in a P2P file-sharing lawsuit.

This week a few bloggers are commenting on the transcript from their initial appearance in court earlier this year.

Godwin's Law writes:

I urge you to read the transcript of Ms. Santangelo's court appearance . . . . It is fun to read, and it has made me an instant admirer of Judge McMahon, who refused to be a mere conduit steering Ms. Santangelo to the RIAA's "conference center" (which should properly be called a "surrender center").

Godwin then provides an interesting excerpt from the transcript highlighting the judge's refusal.

In response to Godwin's post, Donna Wentworth writes:

Nice. And a wonderful reminder that the lawsuits affect real people with real lives — even busy judges who may chafe at the role they're being asked to play in this unfortunate, ineffective "education" campaign.

IP Democracy adds:

Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seems to be on Santangelo's side. According to a transcript of a hearing held in the case, Judge McMahon made clear she doesn’t like the tactics of the RIAA.

Finally, Techdirt weighs in:

As Copyfight implies, the judge is making it clear to the RIAA that this is a court case and not an education campaign, as the RIAA likes to think of it. While it would be great if this case does go to court, all this publicity is upping the ante for the RIAA to push for a settlement as quickly as possible.

Prior post:
    Aug. 22, 2005 - Soccer Mom Takes on Record Companies in P2P File-Sharing Case.

Update (Aug. 30, 2005): (via Copyfight) P2Pnet.net interviews Ray Beckerman, the attorney representing Ms. Santangelo. Two quotes from Beckerman:

We expect Ms Santangelo's costs to be picked up by the RIAA, since (a) the copyright statute permits the Court to shift the attorneys fees to the losing party, (b) these cases were clearly frivolous and brought in bad faith, and (c) it is a matter of public interest that the RIAA be deterred from bringing more such meritless cases. . . .

It will be an interesting conversation when and if I get to talk to whoever has managed to convince the gullible people in charge of the RIAA that their terrorism is helping them.

More: Ray Beckerman's bio and blog and court documents.

Patent Suit Filed Against Dell, Office Depot, J.C. Penney, Williams-Sonoma, J. Crew

Internet Media Corp. announces:

Internet Media Corp. filed a patent infringement lawsuit today against Dell . . ., Office Depot . . ., J.C. Penney . . ., Williams-Sonoma . . ., and J. Crew Group. . . .

Filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, the suit charges the named parties with infringing Internet Media's patent related to the use of codes to facilitate access to the Internet.

It is not clear from the press release which patents are involved, however, there are two listed on Internet Media Corp's website.

From the abstract of U.S. Patent No. 6,049,835 [pdf]:

A system for quickly and easily accessing preselected desired addresses or URLs on the Internet is disclosed in which a published list of Internet or World Wide Web sites together with their unique jump codes is utilized in connection with a corresponding specialized Web site which is accessed by a user using either a personal computer or a TV Internet Terminal and remote control, after which access a jump code corresponding to the preselected desired URL is entered by the user and software contained in the specialized Web site immediately and automatically accesses the desired Web site.

From the abstract of U.S. Patent No. 6,769,018 [pdf - 1.1M]:

A system for quickly and easily accessing preselected desired addresses or URLs on the Internet is disclosed in which a unique jump code for a particular desired address is published by printing it in an advertisement in a Yellow Pages directory or in a newspaper advertisement or by announcing it during a television or radio program. The user enters the jump code into an Internet location for receiving it, e.g., the home page of the Yellow Pages publisher, to access the desired address without typing the full URL. The user can then receive more information, promotional coupons, or the like.

More: Ronald J. Schutz (attorney at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi representing Internet Media Corp.)

$1.25M Patent Application Fee with 13,305 Claims

You don't see a $1.25M patent application fee every day.

The above link takes you to the image file wrapper for Application No. 11/006,891 Electrical devices and anti-scarring agents.

The "Claims" indicate a total of 13,305 claims.

The "Pre-Exam Formalities Notice" indicates a $999,600 fee for 9,996 independent claims over 3, and a $249,475 fee for 9,979 total claims over 20. (Apparently, either the PTO system is unable to process more than 9,999 claims, or the PTO stops charging for claims greater than 9,999.)

The "Transmittal letter" indicates the specification (including claims) was 1,895 pages in length.

A subsequent amendment appears to get the number of claims to below 100.

Hat tip: Now, Why Didn't I Think of That?.

Patent Reform Act Amendment to Make Inequitable Conduct a Circus

writes Lee Thomason at Patent Baristas:

[W]hat is the worst havoc that the "Amendment" allows an infringer to craft around a colorable claim of inequitable conduct. I think that the grandest fracas would be (1) a suit pleading invalidity, unenforceability and attempted monopolization, and (2) a "referral" per §136(c) of the alleged inequitable conduct for a Special Office investigation, and (3) if you time it right, a post-grant opposition proceeding per §321 of the proposed Reform bill. That three-ring circus should keep the patentee occupied, whilst the infringement continues, for a good long while!

Check out the rest.

Prior posts:
    Aug. 24, 2005 - Cringely: Patent Reform Unfair to Absent-Minded Inventors.
    Aug. 23, 2005 - Draft Amendment to Patent Act of 2005 Circulating.

Piracy Crackdown Causes Shift from BitTorrent to eDonkey

Reuters reports:

Traffic in the popular file-sharing network BitTorrent has fallen in the wake of a crackdown on piracy, but file sharers have merely shifted to another network, eDonkey, new data released on Monday showed. . . .

A study by the Cambridge-based Internet analysis firm CacheLogic found that eDonkey is now roughly on par with BitTorrent in the United States, China, Japan and Britain.

More: CacheLogic.

Update: Nerdlaw.org asks, Is Anyone Surprised?.

More: TechNewsWorld.

More on Sun's Open Source DRM DReaM

Sun Microsystems announced its Open Media Commons initiative last week, which included the open-source DRM project titled DReaM.

This week in his blog, Jonathan Schwartz, President and COO of Sun, puts it all in context and adds some clarification:

Our view is that an effective solution to the challenge of ensuring IP owners can manage their own security and access controls - and compensation, if that's what they seek - must make a few basic assumptions. Let's outline them:

There is no one busines model for all intellectual property.

There must be no royalty or patent risk.

There must be no hard linkage to any one device.

There must be no hard linkage to any one media format.

Hat tip: IPcentral Weblog.

Prior post:
    Aug. 22, 2005 - Sun Launches Open Media Commons Initiative.

Who Owns the Patents for Carbon Nanotubes?

Find out at AZoNano.

Hat tip: IPBiz.

Patent Prosecution Is NOT a Commodity

writes rethink(ip):

When preparation and prosecution becomes a loss leader, so do your clients.

GoogleNet: Google's Own Internet?

Business 2.0 speculates about the possibility of a free internet run by Google and accessible to all through Wi-Fi.

More: Slashdot.

UN Control of Internet Is Out of the Question

says Sen. Norm Coleman [R - Minn.].

Free2Innovate.net agrees:

The UN has no business taking over the Internet and no track record to indicate that allowing it to do so would be anything other than detrimental to the continued innovation of the Internet and a disaster for the Internet's continued use as a tool to undermine oppressive governments.

Prior posts:
    Mar. 29, 2005 - UN Interested in Governing the Internet.

How the Internet Is Shaking Up the Music Business

Chris Dahlen at Pitchfork has written an interesting article titled The Chumbawamba Factor:

Everybody knows by now that the internet has shaken up the music business. But one of the subtler changes has been the amount of raw information that the industry collects-- to study the music that sells, and to face up to the music that doesn't.

It's stunning to think about how much music fans are telling us about themselves, in their search queries, the libraries on their hard drives, and the lists they print on their MySpace pages. It's the same kind of quantum leap that we forget to appreciate in, say, web surfing or TiVO, where someone's collecting exponentially more information about you than they ever could before.

The article focuses on BigChampagne, a market research firm specializing in P2P networks.

Read on for more (and to find out what the "Chumbawamba Factor" is).