Google just announced the “Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge” or OPN as a way to decrease patent threats surrounding open-source software. Open-source software is freely available to public and private entities, with its complete source code, to change, use, or distribute to anyone for any reason.
The U.S. may have finally found a way to stop, or at least limit, patent trolls from continuing to wreak havoc on the legal system. A proposed “loser pays” update to the Shield Act in America Act would make patent trolls financially liable for all
Recently, there has been a shift by patent trolls to go after the users of everyday technology rather than the creator of the technology. One of the main advantages in targeting small companies who are the users of patented technology is that small companies are
Corporate Counsel magazine recently released its 2012 Patent Litigation Survey, and the results are striking. The survey is noteworthy not just for the rapid acceleration in the number of patent lawsuits it shows, but also because it illustrates changes that have taken place across the
Here at BLLAWG we discuss patents and patent trolls quite often. It is much rarer to see bright spots for a potential overhaul of our current patent system that allows those who abuse it to profit and proliferate. On Wednesday, the Computer & Communications Industry
On November 6th the jury in patent lawsuit Vringo v Google issued its verdict—awarding $30 million to Vringo on the basis that Google infringed two old Lycos patents that Vringo purchased in 2011. The jury also awarded a running royalty and recommended it be set
As competition amongst smart phone and tablet creators quickly ramps up, so have the legal implications behind patent infringement. The Federal Trade Commission and the courts have seen an influx of legal matters related to the alleged misuse of standard-essential patents by high profile technological
It seems obvious that patents were intended to be public. Ostensibly, patents reward innovation by allowing for a temporary legal monopoly, and legitimate patent-holders who are using patents to produce exclusive goods would want others to know their patent exists to avoid copycats and costly
The idea behind patents is sound, and we are all more or less familiar with how they work– encourage innovation by granting the inventors of creative and useful ideas a period of exclusive rights to produce and profit from those ideas. But the system does
Late last year, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware revised the “Default Standard for Discovery” for the third time to reflect recent changes in technology and to address the concerns of lawyers regarding electronically stored information and the discovery process. The