While waiting for the decision on appeal, Desire2Learn has formally challenged the validity of Blackboard's patent. The challenge argues that the patent is overly broad. Additionally, the challenge alleges that Blackboard's patent covers technology that other companies had developed, prior to Blackboard filing its patent.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office then issued an initial verdict in March. The initial verdict rejected all 44 claims that are the basis of Blackboard's patent. This initial review is "non-final," meaning that a more thorough review is still being conducted.

To continue the saga, Blackboard asked that the review of the patent be put on hold until the litigation issue is decided. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected this request.

Blackboard's general counsel, Matthew Small was quoted as saying, "You run the risk of having conflicting rules along the way, so we had asked the patent office to stay the reexamination." He used the term, "a small procedural matter," to describe the denial of the stay.

Both the patent lawsuit and the reexamination are continuing. These two procedures are markedly different. Legal experts in the field said they were not surprised that Blackboard was unable to get a stay of the reexamination given the differences between the lawsuit and the patent reexamination.

Final decisions in both cases are not expected any time soon. In fact, it could be year before any decision is rendered on the lawsuit or the patent reexamination.

Desire2Learn runs a blog to track the patent dispute. They stated, "We look forward to the next step in the reexamination process."

BetaNews reports that an intellectual property company – that is, a company which buys the patents from other firms with the avowed intention of suing people with big pockets – called Orinda IP USA is accusing Sony of infringing its patent on “Apparatus and method for recording/reproducing optical information and optical disk-shaped recording medium.” If you thought that the terms of the patent sounded vague, you'd be right.

The patent dates back to 1993 – so it's hardly cutting-edge technology – and was originally filed by Hyundai Electronics Industries. Having purchased the patent, Orinda is looking to make a fat profit: stating that any and all Blu-ray devices fall under the terms of the patent, the company is asking for an injunction against Sony along with an agreement to receive royalties, triple damages, backdated interest, and the full payment of legal fees. Plus the moon on a stick, one assumes.

This isn't the first time Sony has been accused of taking shortcuts while developing Blu-ray, either: back in 2007 the company was sued by Target Technologies over a corrosion-preventing layer in Blu-ray discs that the company claimed Sony had appropriated.

Filed on the 20th of August in East Texas – a court well beloved of patent hoarders – this latest case will be presided over by Judge T. John Ward, a man well known for siding with patent holders in these disputes. Whether this spells trouble for Sony remains to be seen.

Do you see yet another patent troll going after the deepest pockets it can, or is there something to Orinda's claims after all? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

As a patent attorney, I frequently field common-sense questions about patents, the patent system, and what it all means for individual inventors and corporate innovators alike. I am a Canadian attorney, and so most of these questions have to do with patents in Canada, but in most respects the issues are the same in Canada and elsewhere, including the United States. There are differences, however – often technical ones – and so I frequently field such questions from my colleagues in other countries, who are no strangers to the complex world of patents, but who want to know how the system is different in Canada.

I have created this blog with these two groups of people in mind: innovators who want to know more about patents, but who are bewildered by the immense volume of information that is available; and, experienced attorneys in other countries who understand the patent system of their own country, but need to know what they must keep in mind when considering pursuing protection in Canada for their clients' valuable inventions.

A work in progress, my hope is that this blog and its progeny will not be a comprehensive resource for either group (there are many patent references available on the Web); rather, I would like to see it become a forum for questions and answers, in plain language, and with one goal in mind: sorting out from the highly complex world of patents what one really needs to know, and what can be left to the expertise of their attorney or Canadian associate.

Jason

FULL STORY HERE

Quelle: Web.de; Microsoft Patent-Offensive: Bild-Ab-Bild-Auf, Schutz privater Daten

I am guilty of associating the holiday with a day off from work spent sleeping in, relaxing, and giving little thought to the hard work and struggle workers in the past endured to make this holiday possible.  

This morning I flipped open the Burlington Free Press 'Business Monday' section to read how SBE Inc.,

"built on 20th century capacitor technology, has survived by continuing to adapt, taking a Vermont-made product and carving a national market."

 Ed Sawyer, president and CEO of SBE Inc., helped bring the company into 21st century  global competitiveness after nearly closing the doors because of foreign  manufacturing.  

Developing new patents and focusing on cutting edge technology have sparked a resurgence at this local Vermont business.  The article describes the need to maintain a competitive edge and be flexible enough to shift with demand.  Inspiring to know local business is alive and well in Vermont.  

I encourage you to read the entire story.  Local Vermont ingenuity continues to be the envy of the modernized world in so many ways...thank goodness we have this beautiful day to reflect and enjoy.

Adapting to Survive - and Succeed

We're all familiar with the cel phone containing hardware and software controlled by thirty different patent owners.  This New Yorker article provides an intelligent overview and describes how the US aviation industry would probably have never evolved if the government had not stepped in to create patent pools.  But as Surowiecki points out: "When something you own is neccessary to the success of a venture...you'll tend to ask for an amount close to the full value of the venture".

Note: The data includes patent filings in the office of the country of residence as well as patent filings abroad.

Source: WIPO Statistics Database

• In 2006, applicants from Japan (514,047) and the United States of America (390,815) filed the largest numbers of patent applications worldwide. A substantial number of filings also originated from the Republic of Korea (172,709), Germany (130,806) and China (128,850).
• Between 2000 and 2006, there was a significant increase in the number of filings originating from Australia, China, India and the Republic of Korea. The average annual growth rate for these countries was far above that of all reported European and North American countries. Japan, the United Kingdom and Sweden experienced a modest growth in filings (less than 1% a year).
• Between 2000 and 2006, Japan’s share in total patent filings decreased by 6.7 percentage points. The share of patent filings originating from China, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America increased by 5.4, 3.5 and 2.0 percentage points, respectively. The share of the top 10 countries of origin increased from 82.4% (2000) to 85.2% (2006), reflecting an increasing level of concentration.

Source: WIPO Statistics Database

• In 2006, applicants from Japan received approximately 217,000 patents. Applicants from the United States of America and the Republic of Korea also received a substantial number of patents. Between 2000 and 2006, the number of patents granted to applicants from China and the Republic of Korea grew significantly. All the reported countries, except Ukraine, experienced an increase in the number of grants.
• In 2006, residents of Japan (29.9%) and the United States of America (21.3%) accounted for the largest share of world patent grants. However, their combined share of total grants decreased from 58.6% to 51.2% between 2000 and 2006. The share of patents granted to applicants from the top 10 countries of origin has increased from 85.6% to 87.4%, reflecting a slight increase in the concentration level. A similar trend is observed for patent filings

More information can be found at:http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/wipo_pub_931.html

I blogged some time ago for my yearning for an Apple Tablet PC, but this recent CNet post reminds me that Apple have been looking at this technology for some time and are unlikely to be releasing anything soon.

We might be a step closer to seeing something quite revolutionary, but not soon. So, with some money in hand from the insurers I've decided, yet again, to purchase a sexy R400 -- still the best Tablet PC on the market!

M

In defiance of the patent that was awarded Micro$oft on August 19th of this year, I am no longer using the Page Up and Page Down buttons on my keyboard.  As a user of open source operating system (Ubuntu at home and work) I can not in all clear conscience use those buttons anymore.  Geesh, at this rate they might have to make an OS keyboard and mouse and monitor and printer and....

Guess I could just relabel those keys - Page vertical skywardly direction and Page vertical earthly direction.

more photos available, email marcjoseph@marcjoseph.com

www.marcjoseph.com

Microsoft has been granted a patent on 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' keystrokes.

The software giant applied for the patent in 2005, and was granted it on Aug. 19. U.S. patent number 7,415,666 describes "a method and system in a document viewer for scrolling a substantially exact increment in a document, such as one page, regardless of whether the zoom is such that some, all or one page is currently being viewed".

The patent's listed 'inventors' are Timothy Sellers, Heather Grantham and Joshua Dersch. However, Page Up and Page Down keyboard buttons have been in existence for at least quarter of a century, as evidenced by this image of a 1981 IBM PC keyboard.

"In one implementation, pressing a Page Down or Page Up keyboard key/button allows a user to begin at any starting vertical location within a page, and navigate to that same location on the next or previous page," reads the patent's summary.

"For example, if a user is viewing a page starting in a viewing area from the middle of that page and ending at the bottom, a Page Down command will cause the next page to be shown in the viewing area starting at the middle of the next page and ending at the bottom of the next page. Similar behavior occurs when there is more than one column of pages being displayed in a row," states the summary.

Microsoft has a long history of applying for, and being granted patents for, inventions that many argue--and can sometimes demonstrate--were based on earlier work carried out by others, or based on a common, self-evident idea.

One example is the company's patent on a mouse wheel that can scroll up and down; another is its patent on double-clicking buttons. The company received its 5,000th patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in March 2006, and is currently approaching the 10,000 mark.

Appleinsider has gotten their hands on a large patent filing from Apple that we haven't seen before, and it's loaded with plans for how a multitouch interface would work on a tablet Mac running full-blown OS X. It covers how small interface buttons will be handled, iPhone-like scrolling through lists, details on a full multi-touch keyboard, and a nifty pop-up scroll wheel. And on top of all that, it seems like it'll even work if you have freaky alien fingers! Let's take a closer look.

(continue reading at Leaked Apple Patent Filing is Full of New Multitouch Tech For a Mac Tablet)