11.30.07
Video: European Union EPLA and Community Patents; Other Patent News
EU-EPLA
From the press conference in Brussels, Belgium, November 22nd 2007.
The first part is being translated. There is not much to see here unless you are particularly involved or interested in the subject of software patents in Europe (of great relevance to FFII).
Other Patent News
TiVo Inc. on Thursday proclaimed itself winner of the latest round in its battle against EchoStar Communications Corp. after federal regulators validated the digital video recorder maker’s patent that is central to the case.
Microsoft Sued; Christmas Comes Early for Z4 Technologies
Microsoft is succumbing to patent trolls today, as they’re being ordered to pay over $140 million for, get this, asking for two passwords. The original award was ordered in April last year by a federal jury in Marshall, Texas, widely known as the friendliest court for patent trolls. There Microsoft and Autodesk were saddled with $158 million (plus attorney fees) for asking users to “input two passwords during the process of activating newly installed software with the aim of deterring piracy.”
Stormy Weather, Stormy Outlook
According to PatentTracker, the patent storm shows no signs of abatement. Quite the contrary:
On Tuesday, November 27th, there were 126 companies sued nationwide for patent infringement. 113 of them were sued in the Eastern District of Texas. That’s more companies sued in one day in East Texas than have been sued in all of 2007 so far in Detroit. Or Dallas. Or Eastern Virginia. Or Minnesota. Or Boston. Or Philadelphia.
As shown in yesterday’s news, Microsoft 'buddies' tell the Government that the monopoly should be left alone to commit its sins because “extending restrictive antitrust oversight of the software maker could trigger a glut of needless litigation for already overburdened courts.” (emphasis in this quote is mine)
Eben Moglen’s Take
In another talk that is available for online access, Eben Moglen says a lot more on some related issues:
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