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EFF busts bogus Internet subdomain patent
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has announced the winning of a case against a bogus patent."The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hasannounced that it will revoke an illegitimate patent onInternet subdomains as a result of the Electronic FrontierFoundation's (EFF) Patent Busting Project campaign.U.S. Patent No. 6,687,746, now held by Hoshiko, LLC,claimed to cover the method of automatically assigningInternet subdomains, like "action.eff.org" for the parentdomain "eff.org." Previous patent owner Ideaflood usedthis bogus patent to demand payment from website hostingcompanies offering personalized domains, such asLiveJournal, a social networking site where each of itsthree million users may have their own subdomain."
Black
Black Duck Software, thought all along to be a patent abjurer, has gotten a software method patent on core technology that automatically resolves software license obligations and conflicts. It’s U.S. No 7,552,093 B2 and covers the widgetry at the heart of the Black Duck Suite, a comprehensive management platform for controlling the use of open source in a multi-source development process. It lets Black Duck scan an organization’s code base of open and closed-source software components using various licenses to determine which license obligations are in effect and which licenses obligations may be in conflict.read more
Sun for Sale?
Dropping profits and stock prices have analysts speculating that Sun could be a target for either acquisition or a restructuring in which the company would sell off parts of the business and focus on a smaller set of technologies. In a July 31 report, the 451 Group analyst firm raised the possibility of Sun being acquired: 'Sun's sunken stock price creates a relative bargain considering its roughly $4 billion cash on hand, sizeable intellectual property and patent portfolio, and of course, its respected technology and products'.
Cloud Computing Expo - PTO Denies Dell’s Trademark
If Dell is going to pursue its quixotic quest to trademark the expression “Cloud Computing,” it’s going to have to convince the US Patent and Trademark Office that the buzzword is neither merely descriptive (like, say, spotted pony) or generic and so “incapable of functioning as a source-identifier” for Dell’s services because that’s what the PTO called it in its latest communiqué to the company, a “non-final action” that denies its trademark application. read more
Open
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Open source file-system vendor signs patent deal with MicrosoftZDNet BlogsAfter a lull where few new open-source vendors were signing patent-protection deals with Microsoft, the pace has begun to pick up again. ...Microsoft signs confidental IP deal over NTFSZDNet UKTuxera signs up with MicrosoftLWN.netTuxera signs IP deal with MicrosoftThe Hall 3 news articles »