Supreme Court Debates Patentability of Software
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A seemingly simple case regarding whether Microsoft had the right to replicate speech recognition software it had licensed -- or rather, thought it had licensed -- from AT&T, and then sell that software abroad as a component of Windows Vista, has exploded into what is now extremely likely to become a landmark case in US patent and copyright law.
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A gas pedal lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court could make it harder for inventors to get patents.
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Microsoft, backed by the US government and heavyweight corporations, took its patent battle with telecommunications giant AT and T to the Supreme Court Wednesday, in a case that has wide implications for US firms doing business abroad.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, California  - The high priests of  free software have congregated at Google Inc.   headquarters this week to debate the future of the movement and  face down recent patent threats by Microsoft Corp. .
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Microsoft Corp. presented oral arguments Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-year-old patent lawsuit filed by AT&amp;T Inc. whose outcome could require U.S. software companies to pay fines for patent-infringing software assembled in other countries.
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Blog: Panel of internal judges has agreed to launch a proceeding to determine whether Microsoft or Eolas is the rightful owner of a patent related to Web browser plug-in technology.
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Project to fight low-quality patents could make legal terrain tougher for open source, Richard Stallman says.
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The Software Freedom Law Center says the "junk patent" threatens open-source projects. The holder says it's willing to deal--but the group asks too much.
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Will the company's next PC look like a Christmas tree? A patent filing sheds some light.
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How far is too far when it comes to the freedom of software? Plus: Palm slipping, Windows sliding.
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The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the LG Electronics and Quanta lawsuit will have an impact on patent holders' rights.
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By Bloomberg News. The United States Supreme Court limited the scope of federal trademark protection yesterday, saying that rival companies in some cases can use proprietary terms even when that might cause confusion among customers.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could make it harder to obtain patents, with technology giants Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. supporting a change. The case, involving a patent on gas pedals for vehicles, has the Supreme Court examining how lower courts arrive at a decision that an invention was obvious, and therefore not patentable. In the case, Teleflex Inc. and Technology Holding Co., holders of the electronic gas pedal patent, sued KSR International Co. for patent infringement, but the defendant argued the courts should invalidate the gas pedal invention for obviousness. After oral arguments Tuesday, some patent lawyers said they expected the Supreme Court to overturn a 4-decade-old approach to deciding obviousness often called the teaching-suggestion-motivation test. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has used this test, saying that there must be some proven teaching, suggestion or motivation to lead a person of ordinary skill to combine "prior art" products into a new invention for that invention to be declared obvious. Other patent lawyers said they expect little movement from the Supreme Court, although any change would have a huge impact on patent holders. If the Supreme Court throws out the motivation test, all current patents could be suspect, said Paul Andre, an intellectual property lawyer with Perkins Coie LLP, in an interview. A change in the motivation test could mean fewer patent infringement cases brought by patent holders, because they would fear that courts would rule their patents invalid, he said. "The alleged infringer would have an easier time challenging a patent," he added. But most patent lawyers seem to believe the Supreme Court won't change the law, with the court last acting on the obvious standard in a 1966 ruling, he said. "If the Supreme Court wanted to do it, they'd have changed it by now," he said. But justices asked several questions about the obviousness standard, with Chief Justice John Roberts suggesting courts needed more flexibility to determine obviousness. The court will likely require the Federal Circuit to come up with a new standard, said Sharon Barner, an intellectual property lawyer with Foley and Lardner LLP, in an interview apart from the court hearing. Cisco and Microsoft, joined by three other companies, filed a brief in the case saying the motivation standard makes it too hard to prove obviousness, leading to bad patents. Microsoft and Cisco have been sued for "allegedly infringing dozens of questionable patents," wrote their attorney Peter Sullivan, of Hughes, Hubbard and Reed LLP. The motivation test "establishes too lenient a standard for patentability, and it has had a stifling effect on true innovation because it encumbers ideas well beyond the limits imposed by Congress for patentable inventions," Sullivan wrote in his brief to the Supreme Court. But a group of patent lawyers filed a brief opposing a change in the law, saying a change in the obviousness standard could make it difficult to get a patent on any invention that combines old products. The current standard is established and well-thought, wrote lawyers for the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Without the motivation test, there's no standard to determine obviousness, said Ronald Riley, president of the Professional Inventors Alliance, in an interview. "Things are often obvious in hindsight when they weren't that obvious," he said. "Big un-innovative ... are trying to make the invention game a king's sport because they hate having to compensate inventors."
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Does Geico's trademark lawsuit against Google have merit? How will the case be argued?  What's the likely outcome of the trial?  A mock court of trademark experts weighs in with their verdict.
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Opens up playing field/can of worms Technology firms will be able to patent software programs following a High Court decision on Friday that could see the UK having closer ties with Europe when it comes to the handling of computer-related inventions.â¦
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The Supreme Court said it would consider a technology patent case that could have far-reaching ramifications for computer makers and others with global supply chains.
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Arguments were heard today in a case whose outcome could require software companies to pay fines for patent-infringing software assembled in other countries.