Europe has long been a leader in the development and deployment of both open standards as well as the technologies these standards drive. Everyone agrees that open standards play a critical role in interoperability, innovation, and competition. Open standards enabled me to build an ICT consulting firm in Alicante, Spain [...]
“Boy, have we patented it!” --Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone at WWDC 2007 It’s easy to forget that the things you do every day are built on patented technology. Whether it is the patent you build on to make your own product or the patent standards you rely on, such [...]
While the law allows courts to grant attorney fees to the winning party in a patent infringement case, many federal courts have opted not to award those fees. Courts have interpreted the standard for awarding fees, "exceptional circumstances" (35 U.S.C. §285), so high few, if any, cases have been able [...]
Apple patents being upheld will force industry toward innovation and differentiation. That's a good thing. Patents not only protect the investments of innovators, they create incentives for the rest of the industry to innovate instead of copying the work of others. Apple's win today reaffirms the importance of patents to [...]
A few days ago, Rep. Peter DeFazio introduced the SHIELD Act, a new law that aims to deter frivolous patent infringement lawsuits. The bipartisan bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz. The core problem: companies who abuse the patent system by threatening thousands of small businesses with legal action without [...]