Showing posts with label Patents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patents. Show all posts

Monday, June 30, 2014

Catching Up

A few months ago I wrote about software patents before the Supreme Court.  Instead of issuing a broad ruling the Court merely decided that adding a computer to an abstract idea would not be enough to make it patentable.  Abstract ideas are not patentable.  The trouble comes in deciding what an abstract idea constitutes.

http://www.vox.com/2014/6/26/5841192/why-last-weeks-ruling-was-bad-news-for-software-patents

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-298_7lh8.pdf

The Law Office of Kurt T. Koehler, 308 1/2 S. State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan (MI) 48198 (Washtenaw County); Copyright 2012 by Kurt Koehler

Friday, February 28, 2014

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Software Patents

Software patents will come before the Supreme Court this term.   Generally, abstract mathematics cannot be patented.  Yet the USTPO has issued many many software patents over the last several decades.  Many of these patents cover simple functions and often overlap with other the claims made by other patents.  Many of these patents are owned by non-practicing entities, also known as patent trolls by many, which make and sell nothing.  These entities do, however, produce lawsuits against companies and person that are active in the marketplace.  Major technology companies also race to accumulate these patents as both a defensive measure against lawsuits and as a sword to attack their competition.

LINKS:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/06/the-supreme-court-could-abolish-software-patents-next-year-heres-why-it-should/