In the late 1990s, when the Internet was only starting to go global, two engineers from MIT figured out a way to make the expansion much smoother. They proposed that websites should store text, images and other static content in multiple data centers around the world to reduce the distance that international browser requests must…
Category: Legal
The Supreme Court will hear Samsung and Apple’s iPhone dispute in October
The tech industry usually doesn’t pay much attention to the happenings at the U.S. Supreme Court, but the October case schedule that was released last Thursday managed to generate a lot of buzz. The agenda includes an oral hearing of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. vs. Apple Inc. No. 15-777, a long-running patent dispute that could have…
How open patents are driving electric vehicle adoption
The usefulness of patents extends far beyond the courtroom. They can put a company in a better position to negotiate with investors and buyers, generate new revenue streams and even serve as a tool for encouraging market growth. The latter strategy is proving to be particularly popular in budding industries like the electric vehicle sector.…
New filing offers a rare glimpse into IBM’s offensive patent strategy
IBM has won more patents over the last two decades than any other organization thanks to a prolific research apparatus that takes the credit for such notable inventions as the HDD, barcodes and the Watson supercomputer. But not all of that intellectual property originates from its product development efforts. A large portion is the fruit of a…
Weekend infographic: Europe's unitary patent
Here’s a nice visual explainer of the unitary patent system that started rolling out in 2012 across the European Union. It’s the culmination of decades of negotiations among the various member states that aims to make it much easier for inventors to protect their intellectual property.
Weekend infographic: 2000 years of patent history
The first patents appeared in fifteen-century Venice, as royal decries granting inventors the protection of the Republic, but the concept of intellectual property dates back much further than that to the very dawn of modern civilization. And its origins may surprise you.
The patent troll that sued Apple over Wi-Fi in iPhones now wants the rights to mobile photography
Core Wireless Licensing has been keeping busy since failing to convince a jury that the Wi-Fi support in the iPhone and iPad constitutes a violation of its intellectual proprietary earlier this year. A patent filing submitted the month after the verdict and published a few days ago reveals it’s moving down the checklist to another key…
Weekend infographic: The toll of patent trolling on technology innovation
Today’s infographic, the first in a series that will run every weekend to supplement this blog’s main coverage of patent filings from Monday through Friday, examines at the cost of intellectual property abuse for the tech industry and innovation as a whole. The figures speak for themselves. [do_widget id=text-6]
The South Korean government is a patent troll
Browse the US Patent and Trademark Office’s online database long enough and you’re bound to come across the vague filings assigned to even more vaguely-named entities that provide the fodder for the intellectual property battles keeping the tech industry up at night. But one of the latest additions to that dishonorable pile deserves some special…