IBM is taking Airbnb to court over what it claims is the illegal use of four patents — the latest in a string of suits against online companies involving historic and arguably broad innovations — in a move that threatens to cast a shadow over the short-term rental company’s road to a proposed IPO. From a report: The computing giant has…
Tag: patent
Supreme Court Rejects Apple Appeal In Patent Fight With VirnetX
New submitter John Trumpian shares a report from Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Apple’s bid to avoid paying about $440 million in damages for using patent licensing firm VirnetX’s internet security technology without permission in features such as FaceTime video calling. The justices rejected Apple’s appeal in the long-running case in which a federal jury in…
Nonprofit Argues Germany Can’t Ratify the ‘Unitary Patent’ Because of Brexit
Long-time Slashdot reader zoobab shares this update from the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, a Munich-based non-profit opposing ratification of a “Unified Patent Court” by Germany. They argue such a court will “validate and expand software patents in Europe,” and they’ve come up with a novel argument to stop it. “Germany cannot ratify the current Unitary Patent due to Brexit…”
The…
OpenPower Foundation Releases a Friendly EULA For IBM’s Power ISA RISC
Long-time Slashdot reader lkcl writes: Michael Larabel, of Phoronix, writes that the OpenPower Foundation has released a license agreement for Hardware Vendors to implement the Power ISA RISC instruction set in their processors. Hugh Blemings, the Director of OpenPower, was responsible for ensuring that the EULA is favourable and friendly towards Libre and Open Hardware projects and businesses. Of particular interest…
Will China Seize an American Company’s Drug For Fighting Coronavirus?
“Chinese researchers reportedly have applied for a local patent on an experimental Gilead drug that they believe could help fight the novel coronavirus outbreak — and also significantly bolster Gilead’s bottom-line going forward…” reports The Street. “If granted, Gilead will need to get Chinese patent owners on board when it wants to sell the drug for treating the novel coronavirus infection…
Apple, Broadcom Ordered To Pay $1.1 Billion To CalTech In Patent Case
The California Institute of Technology (CalTech) said it won a $1.1 billion jury verdict in a patent case against Apple and Broadcom. Reuters reports: In a case filed in federal court in Los Angeles in 2016, the Pasadena, California-based research university alleged that Broadcom wi-fi chips used in hundreds of millions of Apple iPhones infringed patents relating to data transmission technology….
Court Overturns Patent Ruling That Would’ve Cost Nintendo $10 Million
After almost seven years, Nintendo has won a patent case that involved the original Wii. On Tuesday, the company announced that a federal court in Dallas ruled in its favor against iLife Technologies, overturning an earlier 2017 decision that would have forced Nintendo to pay out $10.1 million in damages. Engadget reports: The original suit, which was brought against Nintendo of…
Fitbit and Garmin Are Under Federal Investigation For Alleged Patent Violations
U.S. trade regulators said on Friday they will investigate wearable monitoring devices, including those made by Fitbit and Garmin, following allegations of patent violations by rival Koninklijke Philips and its North America unit. Reuters reports: The U.S. International Trade Commission, in a statement, said the probe would also look at devices by made by California-based Ingram Micro as well as China-based…
H2Go Power Seeks To Power Drones With Hydrogen
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: When you think about hydrogen and flight, the image that comes to mind for most is the Hindenburg airship in flames. But in a lab deep in the basement of Imperial College in London, a young team has built what it believes is the future of air travel. H2Go Power is seeking…
EU Patent Office Rejects Two Patent Applications in Which an AI Was Designated As the Inventor
Mike Masnick, writing for TechDirt: We’ve written a bunch about why AI generated artwork should not (and need not) have any copyright at all. The law says that copyright only applies to human creators. But what about patents? There has been a big debate about this in the patent space over the last year, mainly lead by AI developers who want…