In doing so, mangles english language:"The numerosity and substantiality of the disclosures..."
clickosity on the linkiality to readinatise moreible

This is funny. Engadget has a brief summary of the Apple iPod patent ruckus, the short, short version of which is that Apple's patent was refused because a Microsoft employee had previousy filed for a too-similar patent, but now it turns out that iPods were shipping before the Microsoft patent was filed. What I'm wondering is does this knot (which ( Read more... )

I’ve just spent several hours reading through European legalese, and boy do my eyes hurt. Also my brane. Despite all the flapping in various places, it seems like the Council (in the dramatis personæ, the Bad Guys) have actually accepted the bulk of what the Parliament (the Good Guys) proposed, and the only two major points of disagreement between ( Read more... )

One of my readers (hi mopti!) will be delighted to know I’m currently poring over documents relating to software patents and related issues in the EU. Said reader has been providing huge assistance to my attempts to put together a coherent letter to the undecided MEPs in my area in order to persuade them not to legislate me out of a job, and probably is ( Read more... )

they're against software patents. Pity I've already sealed & stamped the envelope.

I've just written an honest-to-goodness letter about the software patents directive to my European Parliament representatives. I could email them, but I'm still inclined to believe that a letter's a far more weighty thing. I did email the two guys who have stated definitively that they're against software patents to say thanks.

I think it's great that Poland keeps blocking moves to rubber-stamp the EU Software Patent Directive, but I want to know what the hell it's doing in front of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries in the first place. I've heard of "rider" bills, but this is ridiculous.

What I find interesting about the fan-wing plane story is that the guy paid £20,000 to file the first patents. I find it hard to reconcile that level of cost with the notion that the job of the patent office is to protect the inventor, never mind the usual patent office abuse that goes on with submarine patents and what not.

Our favourite geek monopolist insists that more software research should be done, despite the fact that his company is busy reorienting itself to make more money from patented techonology, i.e. preventing people from using innovative things like "sorting images by date" as a basis for further research unless they license it first.

This seems to have gotten remarkably little coverage: Eolas Patent Dumped By USPTO.