Patent Humour, Baidu Adds Patent Search to Its Engine
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2007-12-29 11:34:50 UTC
Modified: 2007-12-29 11:35:59 UTC
The following 2-minute video contains many figures. These were extracted from real patent applications covering very silly inventions. We have covered such amusing things before.
With its habit of throwing out random upgrades, Google's always demonstrated a certain ability to surprise us. Now its Chinese competitor, Baidu, has achieved the same effect by launching a patent search service.
Approximately 200 companies have already purchased licenses to use the patents in question, which cover a range of interactive services ranging from automated prescription refills to securities trading, and home shopping to teleconferencing.
Eastman Kodak will receive royalties from Matsushita Electric Industrial through a settlement of a July patent infringement suit, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.
Such patent settlements have become quite routine, but they needn't be. In many cases, patents don't come under scrutiny; instead, they are honoured blindly. A pointless settlement might simply be cheaper than a trial. This beats the purpose of a patent system. ⬆
Because digital connections in third parties aren't assets; they endow another party with tremendous power over people (e.g. MElon getting to decide who can and cannot reach people or what messages to "dim down")
Narrowing down to desktops and laptops, and judging by Web requests that go through Clownflare, many people there use GNU/Linux or Google's 'bastardised' version of it (with spyware preloaded)
