Supreme Court Upholds Software Patents in Bilski Decision
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion in Bilski v. Kappos, finding that Bilski’s patent was not valid, but reaffirming the patentability of methods and software.
Senator Hatch Grills FTC’s Leibowitz on Antitrust Power Grab
As we’ve discussed before, the FTC recently decided to dust off its Section 5 authority to go after “unfair methods of competition” in lieu of using its tradition antitrust authority (Section 2) to pursue some of its tougher cases. This has many antitrust experts concerned, most notably, Bob Litan, former Clinton administration. Apparently, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is also concerned by the FTC’s use of Section 2.
This Week in Antitrust
Yes, gentle reader, it's that time again! Today's the day you've been looking forward to all week: ACT Online's "This Week in Antitrust" Friday feature covering antitrust-related news highlights with a special focus on the microchip industry. Figuring prominently in this most recent selection of relevant and topical articles is [...]
ICANN Takes Wrong Turn on New TLD Contracts
When ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate-Thrush, an accomplished attorney, said last year that he wouldn't let one of his own clients agree to a contract that could be unilaterally changed after it was signed, the Internet community breathed a sigh of relief. But when the Chairman backed away from that stance earlier this week in Nairobi, it became clear that we should have held our breath a little bit longer.
The New Question is: who DOESN’T have a new CPU?
A while back we did a paper looking at the CPU marketplace and how new chips help to foster new software sales. A chart from Gizmodo sums up one of our points: Every chip manufacturer is playing in the iPad/Slate/tablet game.