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IBM's Where-in-HQ-is-Samuel-J-Palmisano? Patent
,----[ Quote ]
| theodp writes "The next time IBM CEO Samuel J. Palmisano is late for a big
| meeting and can't be reached via his BlackBerry, the other attendees will
| thankfully have a patent-pending way of finding him. In its just-disclosed
| patent application for a Method for Exploitation of Location Proximity to
| Derive a Location of an Employee in a Corporation, Big Blue describes
| an 'invention' of two of its PhDs that could be used to track Palmisano
| down - call or IM those who sit near Sam's office and ask if they've seen
| him. By the way, IBM VP David Kappos, who recently lamented the diminished
| quality of patents in the US, is a frontrunner to be the next Director of the
| USPTO - perhaps he could comment on the patent-worthiness of this invention."
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090617/0325505266.shtml
President Obama Announces Intent to Nominate David Kappos as Patent and
Trademark Director
,----[ Quote ]
| President Barack Obama on Thursday announced his intent to nominate David
| Kappos, an experienced patent professional with more than 20 years of
| experience, as the new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property
| and Director of the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
`----
http://www.uspto.gov/main/homepagenews/2009jun19.htm
Recent:
USPTO Director announcement imminent as a new name enters the frame
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| Three names have been in the frame for the job up to now: Todd Dickinson,
| David Kappos and James Pooley.
`----
http://www.iam-magazine.com/Blog/Detail.aspx?g=5e1205f8-5646-45ff-bbb6-0890193738bf
Dave Kappos as Next PTO Director?
http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/05/dave-kappos-as-next-pto-director.html
Patent Thickets and Patent Trolls:
,----[ Quote ]
| Moreover, this new definition would now include many corporations, such as
| IBM, which collect patents, not for manufacturing purposes, but to use them
| as a shield against patent infringement lawsuits. (Coincidentally, two
| commentators to my prior post on incremental invention mentioned IBM's
| practice of hoarding patents.) In sum, IBM, which has long been one of the
| largest owners of patents in the country, uses patents defensively. Its
| policy has been one of “mutually assured destruction,” i.e., if someone
| threatens to sue it for patent infringement, then it promises that it can
| find a patent in its massive patent portfolio with which to countersue for
| infringement. This policy has worked marvelously well for IBM, which has
| mostly avoided patent infringement lawsuits and has been left free to devote
| its time, energy and money to developing new products and services that it
| offers in the marketplace. But IBM's policy of hoarding patents is
| certainly "patent troll"-like behavior — patents are being used solely for
| litigation purposes and not for development of actual products sold in the
| marketplace.
`----
http://volokh.com/posts/1241494164.shtml
EPO seeks to validate software patents without the European Parliament
,----[ Quote ]
| At the highest level of the European Patent Office (EPO), the legality of
| software patents in Europe is about to be tested. The FFII warns that the
| European Parliament is being bypassed by allowing a decision with EU-wide
| implications to be made without its involvement or any real debate.
|
| The President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Alison Brimelow, has asked
| the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) to decide on the interpretation of the
| European Patent Convention (EPC) regarding the exclusion of software from
| patentability. The EBA is replacing the European Parliament in order to
| validate software patents EU-wide without the need of a debate.
`----
http://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/EPO_seeks_to_validate_software_patents_without_the_European_Parliament
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