The CAFC today decided a much-anticipated patent law case, In re Bilski. The opinion: PDF and html. At issue was the patentability of a method for hedging risk in the trading of commodities. – If upheld (i.e., presuming the Supreme Court doesn’t grant cert and then overrule the CAFC’s opinion here), it could mean a significant … Read more
I’m at a wonderful summer program hosted by the Kauffman Foundation on Law, Innovation, and Growth. They’ve convened a truly interdisciplinary crowd interested in how law can affect rates of innovation and growth. Many, though by no means all, of the conversations are about innovation in technology-related fields. All the papers presented will be posted … Read more
As part of our Berkman@10 celebration this year, we at the Berkman Center tonight welcome Francois Leveque, professor at the Ecole des Mines, Paris, and visiting prof at the faculty of law at UC Berkeley. He’s presenting the findings of two new papers, each co-authored with Yann Meniere: “Technology standards, patents and antitrust” and “Licensing … Read more
I got word today of the launch of a new service called LegalForce. They’re creating an online marketplace for patents. They’ve also got something of a community-building idea for stakeholders in the patenting system, it appears. It ‘s a seed-funded company out of Palo Alto. They welcome inquiries from academics who wish to do research … Read more
Jim Moore says “we need a true Creative Commons for patents.” Two substantial posts on patent reform, Microsoft, IBM, and power relationships.
As a follow-up to earlier posts on this topic: Microsoft has filed a large-scale patent application related to RSS. (A news story here and Dave Winer’s post on it here.) Microsoft’s patent application, (published on December 21, 2006, filed on June 21, 2005 — though those may not be the most relevant facts in terms … Read more
In big interoperability news, Microsoft and Novell have entered into a deal to work together. Those are some interesting bedfellows. Much to unpack and understand. One insight, from ArsTechnica’s report: “From Microsoft’s standpoint, virtualization is a good thing, especially when Windows is the host operating system. A close linkage between Microsoft and Novell reinforces Microsoft’s … Read more
Microsoft has just unveiled a new commitment not to assert certain rights against people who develop code based on specifications that Microsoft has developed. It’s called the Open Specification Promise. Warning: the announcement itself, at the top of the page, is written in legalese, though probably pretty readable legalese. The FAQs make things a lot … Read more
Jim has another must-read post in his series of thought-provoking mini-essays on the patent system, innovation, and the web 2.0 space.
Just before summer recess, some prominents senators have revived patent reform legislation (more or less) that had been proposed in the House last year. It’s interesting to witness the politics between the Professional Inventors Alliance (which dislikes these proposals) and the Big TechCos (which are full-bore behind it, it appears).