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Amazon patent outlines an anonymous mobile payment system

Amazon patent outlines an anonymous mobile payment system
  • Posted April 17, 2013, 2:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Industry News
  • Amazon may be preparing to launch an anonymous mobile payment system as evident by a patent application published yesterday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Originally filed for in April 2009, the service would allow people to purchase items…

Microsoft signs Android, Chrome OS patent deal with Foxconn

Microsoft signs Android, Chrome OS patent deal with Foxconn
  • Posted April 17, 2013, 9:30 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Mobile Computing, Industry News
  • Hon Hai Precision Industry, commonly known as Foxconn, has joined a list of manufacturers to reach a licensing agreement with Microsoft over patents associated with Android and Chrome OS. Fine details about the arrangement are being kept under wraps for…

Apple patent filing outlines methods to lessen iPhone drop damage

Apple patent filing outlines methods to lessen iPhone drop damage
  • Posted March 21, 2013, 4:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Apple
  • Having to lug around your iPhone in a bulky protective case to prevent damage from accidental drops may soon be a thing of the past if Apple has anything to say about it. A recent patent filing from Cupertino outlines…

THX says iDevices, iMac speaker design infringes on their patent

THX says iDevices, iMac speaker design infringes on their patent
  • Posted March 18, 2013, 12:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Apple
  • THX has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging the company’s iPhones, iPads and iMacs infringe on one of their patents. Specifically, the privately held audio standards assurance company lays claim to a patent issued in 2008 for narrow profile speaker…

Apple applies for patent to bring wireless charging to Smart Cover

Apple applies for patent to bring wireless charging to Smart Cover
  • Posted March 14, 2013, 4:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Apple
  • Apple has applied for a patent that would allow iPad owners to charge their tablet using a special version of the company’s Smart Cover. Referred to as “Integrated Inductive Charging in Protective Cover” in the application filed with the U.S.…

Carnegie Mellon asks court to triple Marvell's $1.17 billion fine

Carnegie Mellon asks court to triple Marvell
  • Posted February 13, 2013, 7:30 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Industry News
  • Carnegie Mellon University has asked a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania court to triple the $1.17 billion patent infringement fine levied against Marvell in December -- an outcome that would dwarf the record-setting $1.05 billion ruling in last August's Apple versus Samsung case. CMU, which...

Judge invalidates 13 Motorola patent claims against Microsoft

Judge invalidates 13 Motorola patent claims against Microsoft
  • Posted February 8, 2013, 8:30 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Microsoft, Industry News With Video
  • Microsoft scored a victory against Google-owned Motorola Mobility this week after a judge scrapped 13 of the latter party's patent claims in a years-long dispute over H.264-related royalties. Waged in US and German courts, the battle involves three patents (7,310,374,…

Samsung sues LG for allegedly copying PLS display technology

Samsung sues LG for allegedly copying PLS display technology
  • Posted December 13, 2012, 6:00 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Hardware, Industry News
  • Samsung has hit LG with another lawsuit, this time for purportedly infringing on LCD patents. Filed with the Seoul Central District Court, the complaint aims to invalidate seven LG patents that allegedly copy a plane-to-line switching (PLS) design that Samsung…

Microsoft sued over use of Live Tiles in Windows

Microsoft sued over use of Live Tiles in Windows
  • Posted October 31, 2012, 3:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Microsoft, Industry News
  • Microsoft is already facing lawsuits related to the recently-launched Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems. Surfcast, a Portland-based company OS development company has filed a complaint with a U.S. District Court in Maine, claiming that Microsoft is infringing…

Samsung alleges jury foreman tainted patent trial with Apple

Samsung alleges jury foreman tainted patent trial with Apple
  • Posted October 3, 2012, 11:00 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Industry News
  • Samsung has requested that a judge toss out a recent verdict awarded to Apple as part of an ongoing patent dispute. The Korean company claims jury foreman Velvin Hogan failed to disclose the fact that he filed for bankruptcy in…

Weekend tech reading: Kodak loses patent suit against Apple, RIM

Weekend tech reading: Kodak loses patent suit against Apple, RIM
  • Posted July 22, 2012, 2:05 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in NATW
  • Eastman Kodak has lost a patent case against Apple and Research In Motion, dealing a blow to the onetime film giant's efforts to raise billions of dollars by selling off its intellectual property. Kodak filed a complaint against the iPhone and BlackBerry makers at the U.S. ITC...

Patent troll litigation totaled $29 billion in 2011, sidetracks innovation

Patent troll litigation totaled $29 billion in 2011, sidetracks innovation
  • Posted June 27, 2012, 12:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Industry News
  • A new study from Boston University reveals that non-practicing entities, otherwise known as patent trolls, cost the US $29 billion in 2011. Monetary damages aside, the study found that the increasing number of lawsuits is curbing innovation among small and medium-sized companies.

Sony patent aims to put content-interrupting commercials in video games

Sony patent aims to put content-interrupting commercials in video games
  • Posted May 25, 2012, 2:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Gaming
  • If you thought randomly-placed in-game advertisements were annoying, you’d better be sitting down for this one. It’s come to light that Sony filed a patent that would implement content-suspending advertisements in video games.

ITC deems Kodak patent invalid, favors Apple and RIM

ITC deems Kodak patent invalid, favors Apple and RIM
  • Posted May 22, 2012, 10:00 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Industry News, Mobile Computing
  • The US International Trade Commission has once again rejected Kodak's complaint against Apple and Research In Motion. Kodak filed a complaint in January 2010, accusing the mobile firms of infringing on US patent number 6,292,218, which describes an image previewing technology...

Patent suggests Apple's haptic feedback may reshape your screen

Patent suggests Apple
  • Posted May 4, 2012, 6:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Apple, Industry News
  • RIM, long-time purveyor of fine QWERTY phones, has finally decided it's time to abandon physical keyboards. With that in mind, it appears we're entering a point of no return for such input devices as they continue to steadily disappear from the mobile…

Man files lawsuit against Apple alleging Smart Cover patent infringement

Man files lawsuit against Apple alleging Smart Cover patent infringement
  • Posted May 1, 2012, 7:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Apple
  • An Aspen, Colorado resident has filed a lawsuit against Apple and retailer Target that claims the company’s Smart Cover infringes on a patent he owns. Jerald Bovino filed for the “portable computer case” patent in mid-2003 which was later issued…

Judge favors Motorola over Microsoft in Xbox 360 patent case

Judge favors Motorola over Microsoft in Xbox 360 patent case
  • Posted April 26, 2012, 8:30 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Gaming, Industry News
  • Microsoft has suffered a setback in a dispute with Motorola over patents involving technology in the Xbox 360. In a preliminary ruling Monday, US ITC Judge David Shaw found that Microsoft is infringing on four of the five patents in…

Microsoft files patent for secondary low-power smartphone display

Microsoft files patent for secondary low-power smartphone display
  • Posted April 23, 2012, 4:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Industry News
  • Those who feel that Microsoft’s most innovative days are behind them might want to reconsider that opinion as a string of recent patent applications suggest otherwise. The latest idea from Redmond involves adding a secondary screen on the back of…

Former AMD, Intel engineer pleads guilty to stealing sensitive documents

Former AMD, Intel engineer pleads guilty to stealing sensitive documents
  • Posted April 9, 2012, 6:00 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Industry News, IT Security
  • Biswamohan Pani, a former engineer for both Intel and AMD, has plead guilty to five counts of fraud centered around the theft of sensitive Intel documents. The stolen information, valued at an approximate total of $1 billion, included chip-related design…

AOL sells 800 patents to Microsoft in $1 billion deal

AOL sells 800 patents to Microsoft in $1 billion deal
  • Posted April 9, 2012, 4:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Industry News, Microsoft
  • AOL announced it has reached an agreement with Microsoft to sell over 800 of its patents and a number of relevant patent applications for $1.056 billion in cash. According to the Wall Street Journal, the move was prompted by a…

Facebook countersues Yahoo, uses several IBM purchased patents

Facebook countersues Yahoo, uses several IBM purchased patents
  • Posted April 4, 2012, 11:30 AM by Lee Kaelin | Filed in The Web
  • Facebook has responded to Yahoo’s recent patent infringement lawsuit by filing a counterclaim of its own in a San Francisco federal court. Facebook claims Yahoo has violated their patents covering photo tagging, advertising and online recommendations.

European Commission probes Motorola Mobility over patent abuse

European Commission probes Motorola Mobility over patent abuse
  • Posted April 3, 2012, 9:54 AM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Industry News
  • Responding to complaints by Apple and Microsoft, the European Commission, Europe's competition regulator has launched two antitrust investigations into Motorola Mobility to assess whether the firm abused its standard-essential patents with unfair licensing conditions and litigation against rivals.

Apple offers nano-SIM design free of royalties, but there's a catch

Apple offers nano-SIM design free of royalties, but there
  • Posted March 26, 2012, 6:00 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Industry News, Mobile Computing
  • The future of tiny SIM slots everywhere hangs in the balance as Apple, Motorola, RIM and Nokia continue deliberating over what the next nano-SIM standard will be. Not content with other offerings, Apple is now promising its own design will be…

Facebook purchases 750 patents from IBM, doubles portfolio

Facebook purchases 750 patents from IBM, doubles portfolio
  • Posted March 23, 2012, 9:00 AM by Lee Kaelin | Filed in Industry News
  • Social networking giant Facebook has moved to increase its patent portfolio by purchasing 750 patents from IBM Corporation for an undisclosed figure, which is thought to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars...

Nokia files US patent for vibrating magnetic tattoo

Nokia files US patent for vibrating magnetic tattoo
  • Posted March 21, 2012, 12:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Mobile Computing
  • Nokia has filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a magnetic vibrating tattoo that would alert the bearer of various activity that needs attention on their wireless handset. The idea is that the inked person wouldn’t…

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