Patent Abuse Identified, Patent Abuse Comes Under Fire, Patent Storm Ended, and Patents That Kill
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2007-10-03 23:33:58 UTC
Modified: 2007-10-03 23:33:58 UTC
Poor patents hurt the poor
Returning to our series of posts which highlight the problem with poor patents, here are some news.
Slashdot has identified a rather disturbing patent from IBM. This patent has prior art written all over it and if only you could count the number of applications that use checkboxes, would you realise the scope of impact.
What do you call it when you drag a pointer over a checkbox to select or deselect it depending on its original state? Answer: US Patent 7,278,116. On Tuesday, the USPTO awarded IBM a patent for Mode Switching for Ad Hoc Checkbox Selection, aka Making an 'X'.
The European Commission launched on Monday formal antitrust proceedings against U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm after complaints that its patent licensing for third-generation mobile telephones broke competition rules.
Another case that we recently mentioned used WLAN as an example of cases where patents hurt progress. Fortunately, that issue may have just been resolved.
A roadblock that reportedly could have held up a key wireless LAN standard seems to have been cleared now that an Australian research group has responded to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standards body.
Our stories aren't discouraged or considered taboo because of racism or "toxic politics" or anything like that; they just hurt powerful people and corporations
"poor working environments, including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity pose a risk to mental health"
Who needs RAs (layoffs, which have been rebranded as "buyouts" like pink slips are generous "gifts") when workers can have their butts kicked every day and WARN Act reporting thresholds are never approached?
Someone should ask Linus Torvalds or his boss (Linux Foundation) if they deem slop, which nobody audits, trustworthy enough to add to every computer out there running the Linux kernel
Using imbeciles who lie to cops and then dox cops (and already have arrest record and court documents wherein they admit being stoned in front of the cops)
