According to the Register, “[a] group of small British businesses has mounted a challenge to changes made by the Intellectual Property Office’s (formerly known as the Patent Office) to the scope of the monopoly a patent holder can be granted for a software patent. […] They are objecting, specifically, to paragraph 14 in the IPO’s recent November guidance on granting patents on computer implemented inventions. In this notice, the IPO said that from now on, it will not normally grant a patent holder the exclusive rights to distribute or sell software that forms part of a patent description.” The five small UK tech companies say the new rules create an absurd conflict between European patents and UK patents, forcing British companies to apply for patent outside the UK.
Yahoo!News reports that “Hong Kong spammers will face big fines and a long jail terms under a new law to control unsolicited advertising, officials said Monday. A new ordinance in the southern Chinese city will regulate all messages sent by electronic means that advertise or promote goods or services, including faxes, emails, SMS text and pre-recorded voice messages. Violators could be fined up to one million Hong Kong dollars (128,000 US) and face up to five years in jail.”
Security Focus points out that security firm Prolexic Tecnhologies warned last week that “[a] flaw in the design of a popular peer-to-peer network software has given attackers the ability to create massive denial-of-service attacks that can easily overwhelm corporate Web sites.”
According to internetnews.com, “[t]he U.S. Senate voted Thursday to increase H1-B visa fees for employers to $5,000 per application, $3,500 more than the current fee. Proceeds from the fee hike would be used to fund scholarships for Americans seeking degrees in math, technology and health-related fields. […] Compete America, which includes Microsoft and Intel as members of its coalition of corporations, educators and trade groups pushing for an increase in 1-B visas, called the Sanders amendment an ‘outrageous and onerous tax’ on tech.”
The International Herald Tribune writes that “[a] tax-cut war is spreading across Europe as leaders of the Continent’s biggest economies give up criticizing smaller neighbors for cutting business-tax rates and decide to join them instead. […] ‘The gloves are off,’ said Erik Nielsen, chief European economist with Goldman Sachs in London. ‘Bigger countries are now competing on taxes. This is very much something that will determine how much and where companies want to invest.’”