Press release, June 8, 2005: “Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) today introduced the Patent Reform Act of 2005 (63 pages, PDF), legislation to improve the quality of patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and to reform certain patent practices that disrupt the operations of high−tech companies and other businesses. The bill in its… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Patent and Trademark
Google Seeks to Shut Down Froogles
Various sources have reported on Google’s trademark infringement lawsuit against Froogles.com, and a copy of the complaint (68 pages, PDF), filed April 8, in District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is available courtesy of Search Engine Watch Blog. Continue Reading
USPTO Initiative to Stop Piracy
“The Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) is the most comprehensive initiative ever advanced to smash the criminal networks that traffic in fakes, stop trade in pirated and counterfeit goods at America’s borders, block bogus goods around the world, and help small businesses secure and enforce their rights in overseas markets.” [Link] See also the USPTO… Continue Reading
USPTO Trademark Filings Now Available Via Web Portal
“The Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR), offers the public an advanced electronic portal to PDF viewing, downloading and printing of an array of information and documents for more than 460,000 trademark applications totaling more than eight million document pages. As new applications are filed, they will be added to the database. It is expected that more… Continue Reading
IBM Donates 500 Patents to Open Source Developers
IBM press release: “IBM has pledged open access to key innovations covered by 500 IBM software patents to people and groups working on open source software. The pledge applies to any individual, community, or company working on or using software that meets the Open Source Initiative (OSI) definition of open source software.” List of pledged… Continue Reading
Mixed Decision in Blackberry Patent Case
From Findlaw: “NTP, INC. v. RESEARCH IN MOTION, LTD. (December 14, 2004), A Federal Appeals Court Upholds Most Of NTP’s Patent-Infringement Claims Against Blackberry Maker Research In Motion (a/k/a RIM), And Remands The Case Back To A Lower Court To Determine, In Part, If Plaintiff’s $53.7 Million Damage Award Should Be Modified Opinion (PDF), and… Continue Reading
Senate Passes CREATE Act
On 11/20/2004, the Senate passed, and House agreed to S. 2192, the Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) Act of 2004. Congressional Record Reference, House of Representatives, November 20, 2004, Page: H10219: ” In the future, research collaborations between academia and industry will be even more critical to the efforts of U.S. industry to maintain… Continue Reading
USPTO Announces E-Form for Madrid Protocol Docs.
Press release: “The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announces the availability of electronic forms for submitting Madrid Protocol related documents. Now a U.S. trademark owner may file a single online application with the USPTO in English, based on an existing U.S. trademark application or registration, pay the fees in U.S.… Continue Reading
USPTO Final Rule Adopts Use of S-Signatures
From today’s Federal Register, Changes To Support Implementation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office 21st Century Strategic Plan; Final Rule [Link] “Discussion of Specific Rules…Section 1.4(d)(2) is rewritten to provide for the signing of correspondence by use of an S-signature, which is defined as a signature between forward slash marks…” Continue Reading
Trademark Suit Against Search Engines to Proceed
“Google and Overture can be sued for selling trademark-linked advertisements, a US judge has ruled.” [Link] See previous reference to this case here. Continue Reading
Google and Yahoo Settle Patent Dispute
Yahoo! and Google Resolve Disputes: “Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Google will take a license to U.S. Patent No. 6,269,361 and several related patents, held by Yahoo!’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Overture, and Yahoo! dismissed its patent lawsuit against Google. The two parties have also resolved a dispute regarding shares issuable to Yahoo! pursuant to… Continue Reading
Geico Sues Google and Overture For Trademark Infringement
“GEICO has filed suit against two major Internet search engine operators, Google Inc. and Overture Services Inc…claiming trademark infringement, alleging that the search engine operators violate trademark rights by allowing other insurance companies to advertise to consumers who display an interest in obtaining information relating in some way to GEICO by using the registered trademark… Continue Reading
