8 posts and columns on USPTO

Voices

Understanding the IP Wars

in Voices on April 30 at 10:12 am PT

Today, technology companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter are getting a scary wake-up call on the importance of IP issues.

QOTD

“Any secondary meaning or fame Apple has in ‘App Store’ is de facto secondary meaning that cannot convert the generic term ‘app store’ into a protectable trademark. Apple cannot block competitors from using a generic name. ‘App store’ is generic and therefore in the public domain and free for all competitors to use.”

– Microsoft appeals to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to deny Apple’s application to trademark the term “App Store

Myte, Gyst and Veer: Who’s Doing Palm’s Branding, Chaucer?

in News on December 17, 2010 at 8:12 am PT

Companies often file trademarks on brands that they never end up using, so this trio of USPTO filings, made by Hewlett-Packard on December 10 isn’t exactly remarkable. But it is interesting in that the marks for which the company has applied–“Gyst,” “Myte,” and “Veer”–sound suspiciously like the names of Palm products.

Appeal Gives Microsoft Chance to Contest i4i Award, Patent Standards

in News on November 29, 2010 at 10:20 am PT

A rare victory for Microsoft in its long-running legal battle with i4i. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Redmond’s appeal seeking to overturn a $290 million jury verdict against it for infringing an i4i XML patent in Word 2003 and 2007.

As Evidence of Prior Art, Defendant Apple Cites Gene Roddenberry’s Tricorder and Maxwell Smart’s Shoe Phone

in Mobile on May 4, 2010 at 10:33 am PT

In 1999 a company called NetAirus Technologies applied for a patent on a “wireless handset communication system,” and though laughably broad, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted it as in 2006. Now, four years later, the company is using it to come after Apple.

VirnetX Sues Microsoft a Second Time

in News on March 19, 2010 at 5:10 am PT

Now that a Texas jury has found that Windows Vista, Windows XP and Office Communicator infringe its patents, VirnetX Holding has set out to prove that a few other Microsoft products do as well. Two days after winning a $105.75 million jury verdict against the software giant, VirnetX has filed a new complaint claiming Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 infringe those patents as well.

You Would Have Had a Better Shot With "Crap Computing™"

in News on August 18, 2008 at 11:28 am PT

Cloud computing providers need not worry about finding an alternative buzzword to describe their services. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has refused Dell a trademark on the phrase “cloud computing.”

You Would Have Had a Better Shot With “Crap Computing™”

in News on August 18, 2008 at 11:28 am PT

Cloud computing providers need not worry about finding an alternative buzzword to describe their services. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has refused Dell a trademark on the phrase “cloud computing.”