The Crisis in Software Patents
There is an international crisis in software patents. The critical, unanswered question is this: When are software inventions eligible for patent?Billions in corporate assets are
There is an international crisis in software patents. The critical, unanswered question is this: When are software inventions eligible for patent?Billions in corporate assets are
Little noticed among this week’s flying blue W flags is the notice of allowance of the W trademark for caps and clothing.Yes, just Tuesday, November 1, 2016, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office agreed to issue the W trademark to the Chicago Cubs for valuable merchandising rights.
On April 25, 1961, Robert Noyce, then of Fairchild, was issued U.S. Patent 2,981,877 for the first silicon-based integrated circuit.
Fifty-eight years ago today, Kirk Godtfred of Lego filed his patent application on the basic building block, literally, of Lego’s billion dollar private fortune. Now, here’s the thing: A patent filed 58 years ago is long expired. The then-standard-17-year term ended in 1978. So how is it that Lego is still the only game in town?
This is the third in a series of articles on four W’s: The who, what, why, and when of patent. In this article, we’ll address the all-important question, why patent?
Let’s consider three inventors who asserted patents against big companies and won. What does it take for a patent owner to succeed?
Google has made a big splash with its patent purchase program. It says it wants to keep patents out of the hands of those who might be tempted to assert them against Google.
A patent endows its owner with “superpowers,” but “only for a limited time,” held the U.S. Supreme Court in Kimble v. Marvel (June 22, 2015).
On Monday night, June 15, the Chicago Blackhawks won the NHL Stanley Cup for the third time in six years.
To conduct a quick, easy, and effective intellectual property (IP) audit, start with the business, not with IP or legal considerations. IP has little value apart from the business.