Posts Tagged: "foss patents"

Follow Friday – The International IP Edition

Today I give you 10 great Twitter accounts to follow if you are interested in staying up on intellectual property around the world, with a heavy emphasis on Europe and Australia because those are the primary jurisdictions that speak English.

Follow Friday: IP Tweeters You Should Follow on Twitter

If you are a user of Twitter you have probably seen more than a few tweets using “#FF” followed by a number of names. #FF stands for “Follow Friday.” On Fridays many Twitter users will suggest who others should follow by tweeting with the hashtag #FF. If this is gobbledygook to you where have you been? Twitter is a great way to stay up to day with news and information from the sources that you like the most. You need to get on the Twitter bandwagon and give it a try!

Google Claims Patents Block Innovation

The mutually assured destruction approach to patenting can explain in part why large companies continue to patent at the rate they do, but the justification completely misses the point that these large tech giants were not always large. They were, at one time, rather small companies that pursued an aggressive agenda of innovation. A big part of that innovation strategy included obtaining protection for said innovation, largely in the form of acquiring patents. That undeniable truth makes it hard not to question whether the tech giants that lament the failings of the patent system and want to limit or abolish it are simply engaging in good old-fashioned protectionism.

Angry Birds Developer Sued by Patent Troll

On Thursday, July 21, 2011, attorneys for Lodsys LLC, who is rapidly becoming a reviled patent troll, filed an amended complaint in the United States Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. As a result of this amended complaint some big names in the gaming world have been brought into the ongoing patent litigation battles being waged by Lodsys, who has already suing a number of Apple App developers and others such as Best Buy and the New York Times, see here and here. More specifically, as a result of the filing of this latest complaint Lodsys has brought patent infringement charges against Atari Interactive, Inc. and Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), among others. But in the mind of the general public the highest profile defendant to date is no doubt Rovio Mobile Ltd., the maker of the extraordinarily popular game Angry Birds, which is available for iPhone, iPad and Android, among other platforms.

Wanted: Prior Art to Invalidate Lodsys Patents

Article One Partners is at it again, this time with four patents in the cross-hairs owned by the company suing Apple App Developers for patent infringement — Lodsys. Article One Partners has made a name for itself as the premiere crowd sourcing, prior art locating company in the world. Now they have three different studies aimed squarely at the four Lodsys patents, which were just used earlier this week to sue the New York Times and others, and earlier still against Best Buy, Adidas, CVS and others. Indeed, it seems that Lodsys is becoming quite a nuisance for defendants, which places them at or near the top of the patent troll most wanted.