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Yahoo’s recent lawsuit against Facebook, which alleges that the giant social networking company violated 10 of Yahoo’s software patents, is drawing much criticism from the tech community. Critics maintain that the whole system surrounding software patents is flawed. “Many software patents are overly broad. They’re not specific chemical formulas. They’re not discrete technologies. Oftentimes they’re amorphous concepts that multiple developers could have dreamed up on their own,” writes Brad Plumer of www.washingtonpost.com.
Even Andy Baio, a former Yahoo programmer, argues in an article for Wired that “the entire legal regime that enables Yahoo to take Facebook to court needs to be radically overhauled. Software patents should be abolished, plain and simple,” he writes. “Software is already covered by copyright, making patent protection unnecessary.”
The lawsuit is a huge problem for Facebook, especially since it plans to launch the biggest Internet IPO in history in a few weeks. No investor wants the uncertainty hanging over Facebook.
In the teeth of Yahoo’s assertion that Facebook is infringing on 10 patents, Facebook’s IP managers and legal consultants have obviously come to the conclusion that a planned $100 billion IPO backed by just 56 patents is a weak position. To gain some bargaining power, Bloomberg reports Facebook has acquired nearly 750 patents from IBM. The value of the deal was undisclosed.
Don’t miss these critical IP management and valuation webinars from Business Valuation Resources:
To pull Michigan out of 42nd place among the 50 states in technology startup activity, the University of Michigan will lead a new two-year, $2.4 million initiative funded by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Ken Nisbet, director of the University of Michigan tech transfer office, calls a mentors-in-residence program a key part of the initiative to help coach new ventures along—and also to keep serial entrepreneurs in the state.
The University of Michigan completed 101 licensing agreements and spun out 11 startups in 2011, and its tech transfer office has helped launch 92 startups from research that originated in faculty labs. Three-quarters of those companies remain in the state.
Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, and Oakland University will also join the initiative, reports www.itbusinessedge.com.
The number of international trademark applications filed under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks hit an all-time high in 2011, according to a WIPO press release. More than 42,200 applications were filed last year—a 6.5% increase over the total applications filed in 2010. Countries with the largest growth in the number of trademark applications were the Russian Federation, with a 35.6% jump, the European Union (24.5%), the United States (15.5%), and China (11.5%).
European Union (EU) member countries filed more than 50% of the trademarks (24,275). Within EU filings, applications filed with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market ranked highest at 5,859, followed sequentially by applications from Germany, the United States, France, and Switzerland.
Top trademark filing companies included Novartis, Philip Morris, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma, Richter Gedeon Nyrt, Nestlé, Philips, and BMW.
In one corner was the might of the intellectual property bar … and in the other corner were Mayo, AARP, and a host of consumer advocates. At issue was whether medical diagnostic processes (instructions for observing changes in a patient relative to a drug’s dosages) are eligible for patent protection. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court in Mayo Collaborative Services et al. v. Prometheus Laboratories Inc. (No. 10-1150) invalidated the Prometheus patent covering a medical testing method, stating that laws of nature are not patentable. To find out more about the decision, attend In-Depth Analysis of Mayo v. Prometheus: What it Means for the Future of Medical Diagnostic Patents, on May 3, 2012, featuring Kevin E. Noonan of McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP.
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