IP Blog
The Software IP Report and the Claims Interpreted Report.
Case Note: Copyright First Sale Doctrine
A California court recently reaffirmed the principle that a restrictive software license is not a “sale” for purposes of the federal copyright laws, and that the license could not be used to assert a defense to copyright infringement based on the first sale doctrine. Adobe Systems Inc. v. Hoops Enterprise LLC, No. 4:10-cv-02769-CW (N.D. Cal., Feb. 1, 2012). Facts Adobe licensed...
Introducing the Non-Lawyers' Pages
While this site presents issues mainly of interest to other lawyers, those issues are vitally important to the non-lawyers who work in the information technology industry. Therefore, I am introducing The SWIP Report’s “Non-lawyers” pages. Here you will find basic information relating to protecting and transferring intellectual property related to software. I have started with some of the basics on...
Will the Supreme Court Revisit Software Patents?
Last fall, in Ultramercial, LLC v. Hulu, LLC [1], the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals surprised many people by upholding a patent claim, reproduced in footnote [2], directed to a “method for distribution of products over the Internet via a facilitator.” One of the defendants in that case, game provider WildTangent, recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the...
Software Patents, Copyrights, Morality, and Pragmatism
Regardless of your philosophical leanings on the issue of software patents, if you’re in the software business, you need to worry about them. A lot of people, such as the inventor of modern e-mail, are opposed to software patents. I have certainly written patent applications with many software engineers who did not like the idea. V. A. Shiva, the e-mail...
More on Google and Privacy
Google’s new privacy policy and terms of use are, as I have commented, scary stuff. Two authors at Slate magazine, coming at the issue from the “open technology” perspective, recently explained why they agree that Google’s simplification of some sixty disparate policies into one is not so benign. As the authors note, “while the new policy does not expand the...
Internet Patent Claims Invalidated by Texas Jury
In a case that has been widely publicized, a Texas jury has invalidated claims of two patents that cover much of today’s World Wide Web. I won’t duplicate the detailed treatment that others have already provided, but this case deserves attention for a lot of reasons. What are they? Well, to start, Texas judges and juries have a reputation of...
Is Software Patentable? A Look at How the Patent Office Answers the Question
The landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision of Bilski v. Kappos, 130 S. Ct. 3218, 3225 (2010), failed to provide a clear test for patentable subject matter. That was over a year-and-a-half ago. Are there now, I wondered, any trends or rules one could discern from Patent Office practice in the wake of Bilski? Can an inventor with a software-related invention...
Google's Dark Cloud
Even if your business does not use Google applications – even if you intend not to use Google applications – Google’s new privacy policy and terms of use could give Google scary rights to your content. Any business with employees who may use Google (which is to say, any business) is at risk for: public disclosure of confidential information; loss...