The European Commission recently released figures on EU patent protection which show that 20 years’ protection in Europe is on average nearly nine times more expensive than in Japan or the US.  In large part, these costs result from translation requirements.  […]

AFP points out that “[t]his week, the world will mark an anniversary that has changed the face -- and other anatomical regions -- of email inboxes everywhere: the first known spam email was sent 30 years ago on Saturday.  But the message sent on May 3, 1978 by a marketer for the now defunct DEC computer company to around 400 people on the west coast of the United States wasn't called spam, and the sender dispatched it without ill intent.  [...]

CNet News has an interesting article by Ina Fried today in which Fried details her experience with buying a “recertified” iPod from Buy.com which turned out to have a virus. Reuters writes that “[o]ffering unlimited music downloads to phone buyers will make money for Nokia as well as record labels, the handset maker said, dismissing talk the move would come at the expense of profits.  ‘We expect to make money both from our traditional device sales, as well as from [...]

The Silicon Valley Watcher has an interesting post today entitled “Incremental Is Not Innovative:  Where Is The Next Big Thing?”  The post’s author, Tom Foremski, alleges that at present “there is a lot of money flowing into companies that only offer incremental improvements over what is already available.”  According to Jeff Nolan, an ex-VC writing on SandHill.com, “the situation may leave the technology industry in another downward spiral if none of the ‘incremental’ ventures hit it big and no other [...]

The Register reports that “Nokia faces a crippling financial bill for its strategy of bundling free music with handsets, which will give users unlimited song downloads with Nokia phones.  The world's biggest label, Universal Music, joined the ‘Comes With Music’ initiative at launch last December, and Sony BMG joined last week. The Register has learned that Nokia must pay the wholesale per-unit rate for downloads over a certain ceiling - believed to be 35 songs per user.  Two key executives [...]

On April 21, 2008, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) issued proposed regulations governing national security reviews of foreign investments in U.S. businesses.  These new regulations were issued to implement amendments adopted by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 (FINSA) to the Exon-Florio Amendment to the Defense Production Act of 1950.  FINSA became effective on October 24, 2007, and the proposed regulations address changes to the law legislated by FINSA and codify certain [...]