Items tagged with 'Patent'
Judge Rules Microsoft Word Can No Longer Be Sold
Judge Leonard Davis, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ruled Tuesday that Microsoft can no longer sell Microsoft Word in the United States due to patent infringement. One can imagine Bill Gates having to pick himself off the floor after reading that ruling. Indeed, the ubiquitous software that... Read More
Microsoft To Pay $200M For Patent Infringement
And the fines just keep on coming. Shortly after Intel was dealt a staggering $1.45 billion fine for alleged antitrust practices against the likes of AMD, Microsoft is now facing a slightly less painful $200 million payment to software ware i4i Ltd. This week, a Texas federal jury ordered Microsoft to pay the aforementioned... Read More
Jailbroken iPhone Used in Apple Patent App
You'll remember that Apple has previously called jailbreaking iPhones illegal. Yet a recent patent application submitted by Apple uses images of a jailbroken iPhone to make their case. The attorneys at Kramer, Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, who submitted the application in Apple's behalf are probably red-faced; I wonder... Read More
Pirate Party Gets Massive Support in Sweden
We’re sure many of you have suggestions for how we could change the copyright laws, patent system, and privacy rules in this country. However, we’re guessing not many of you have acted upon it. The Pirate Party in Sweden is doing just that, and they’re gaining some serious support in the process. Heading into the 2009 European... Read More
Microsoft Patents Real-Time Profanity Filter
It's no secret that most radio talk shows have a slight delay before a caller's audio reaches the air. The obvious reason: to make sure no "f-bombs" reach the sensitive ears of the public --- or the FCC. Well, Microsoft has been awarded a patent that might eliminate the need for that delay. The patent, 7437290, is for "Automatic... Read More
Intel Will Defend Patent Rights Against AMD
Intel says will defend patent rights against AMD SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it has "serious questions" about a deal announced by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to spin off its manufacturing business and... Read More
Microsoft & Pioneer Enter Into Patent Agreement
Microsoft and Pioneer Enter Into Patent Cross-Licensing Agreement to Foster Mutual Innovation in Consumer TechnologyAgreement covers a broad range of consumer products for both companies. REDMOND, Wash., and TOKYO — Sept. 16, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. and Pioneer Corp. signed a patent cross-licensing agreement that furthers... Read More
Microsoft Patents "Page Up, Page Down"
To think that prior to 2005 there wasn't any page up / page down functionality. After all, that's when Microsoft filed a patent application for "Method and system for navigating paginated content in page-based increments." To be exact, March 4, 2005 was the date of the application, and the patent was granted on Tuesday.... Read More
iPhone IM Patent Filed. KTHXBAI
One of the most requested new features for Apple's iPhone has been instant messaging. After all, e-mail is sort of old-fashioned to your average cutting edge phone phreak. Apple seems to be poised to offer IM, as it has filed a patent for a universal interface for real-time messaging. In normal use, users would continue... Read More
Intel Patents Cosmic Ray Detector, No Really
Soft errors, they sound a little less ominous than hard errors, don't they? Actually, both are not a lot of fun for the average computer processor or memory chip. A soft error, relative to semiconductor technology, is corruption inside of the memory structure of a device where bits are flipped... Read More
Apple Patents Hint At Geek Sign Language Future
Apple has applied for patents on a series of single and multiple touch gestures that will undoubtedly show up in some iteration on their Mac OS X sometime in the future. Of course Apple already uses a limited number of touch commands on some of their hardware, but the series of gestures outlined in the application... Read More
PCI Express Target Of Patent Law Suit
There haven't been too many law suits that have this kind of far-reaching industry-wide consequences: PCI-Express itself has come under attack by Microlinc LCC according to their latest filing in Texas.Perhaps the strangest part of all is that this suit will put even rivals AMD and Intel on the same side, not something... Read More
Vonage Settles Patent Suit with Sprint
Wait a second, you Vonage users. Although the legal news of late has not been kind to Vonage, they may be able to avoid financial ruin yet. Today they announced a settlement with Sprint Nextel over their patent lawsuit, though certainly not without cost.Monday's settlement resolves all claims in the dispute,... Read More
Court Affirms Vonage Infringed 2 Verizon Patents
One day after a federal jury ruled Vonage had infringed on Sprint Nextel patents, an appeals court reaffirmed the March decision against Vonage with regards to Verizon patents. It's been a bad two days for them. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reaffirmed an order barring Vonage from using Internet phone... Read More
Did Rambus Use Patent Ambush Tactics?
The European Commission is joining various US courts in examining the legal rights and wrongs of Rambus. Apparently the EC is taking issue with Rambus allegedly not properly disclosing all of its patents to potential customers who were interested in acquiring licenses for other Rambus technology.By not telling customers... Read More
NASA Applies for Bio-nanobattery Patent
It is still a challenge for scientists to develop a good nano-scale battery, which is why nano-scale devices are still fueled by energy sources that are much bigger than the devices themselves. One of the key problems is how to build such a small battery, and NASA has been looking at biological molecules that have self-assembling... Read More
Google's Files Patent for "Eavesdropping" Device
Perhaps some of us remember that at around the same time a year ago, we heard about Google’s scheme to use a computer’s built-in microphone to listen-in on the TV shows that we happen to be watching and to use such information to connect us to websites of interest. Although the details were unclear at the time, a recent... Read More
IBM Granted Patent For External Memory Solution
IBM recently was granted a patent for the technology to create an external RAM enclosure. IBM's current concept calls for the device to be comprised of three major parts; an external RAM enclosure for the add-on memory, a DRAM slot adapter that is installed like normal RAM, and a cable which connects the two. According... Read More
Intel And AmberWave Announce Settlement in Patent Infringement Case
Intel And AmberWave Systems Corporation Announce Settlement of Strained Silicon Patent Infringement Litigation and License Agreement SALEM, New Hampshire and SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 5, 2007 - Intel Corporation and AmberWave Systems Corporation have settled all patent infringement suits pending between them related to... Read More
Has Anyone Patented A Round Thing On An Axle Yet? Google It.
As we mentioned yesterday, Google is useful for all sorts of things you might not know about. Slate's Michael Agger has a fascinating rundown on one of the strangest and most controversial applications Google's got: searching through patents: Now that the buzz is wearing off, it's time to ask what Google Patents... Read More
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