Saturday, June 7, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
KFC Is Two Weeks Too Late For April Fool's Day
KFC has introduced the "Chicken Corsage," just in time for prom season. Be sure to watch the awesome video. (Apparently, this is real.)
Thursday, April 3, 2014
"Jabberwocky" Parody Featuring Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank
One of my most recent EFF amicus briefs was in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l. The case deals with the patentability of computer software and business methods. The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case on Monday, March 31. While the transcript makes it seem likely that Alice Corp. will lose its patents, it's unclear whether the Court will make a broad ruling either upholding or limiting software patents.
Fortunately, EFF's Parker Higgins has come up with an explanation of the oral argument: In the form of a parody of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." Now it almost makes sense. Almost.
Fortunately, EFF's Parker Higgins has come up with an explanation of the oral argument: In the form of a parody of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." Now it almost makes sense. Almost.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Trader Joe's Versus Whole Foods
Trying to decide whether to go to Trader Joe's or to Whole Foods? Here's a handy chart to help you decide.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Monday, March 3, 2014
Three Supreme Court Briefs In Five Days
February was a busy month for me. It resulted with EFF filing three Supreme Court merits briefs over a five day period. The time crunch resulted when the Court agreed to hear Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l. on December 6, 2013 -- and then on January 10, 2014, the Court agreed to hear both Limelight Networks, Inc. v. Akamai Technologies, Inc. and Natuilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc. All three cases are patent cases seeking review of decisions by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
Because our brief in Alice Corp. supported the respondent (the winning party in the appeals court), it wound up being due on February 27, 2014. In the other two cases, our briefs supporting the petitioners (the parties that lost) were due on March 3.
Alice Corp. discusses when abstract ideas can be patentable, under 35 U.S.C. § 101. As applied in this case, the statute affects the patentability of business methods and computer software, an issue on which the courts have been divided. Previously, the Federal Circuit heard the case before a panel of 10 judges to try to resolve the issue; EFF and I had filed an amicus brief in that proceeding. However, the court was unable to decide anything precedential, splitting 5-5.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to try to set a definitive precedent. Our amicus brief in the case argues that the software industry was doing just fine without patent protection before the Federal Circuit concocted the notion of broad software patents in 1994. As the brief put it:
Limelight is another appeal from an en banc Federal Circuit case. The case originally dealt with the issue of whether anyone is liable for patent infringement if no one person performs all the steps of the patent, that is, if separate entities perform separate steps of the claim. EFF's amicus brief argued against joint liability for patent infringement, because joint liability could ensnare innocent third parties such as users of someone else's technology. This time an 11 judge court, splitting 6-5, did decide something, but not the question of joint liability. Instead, the court held that a party (Limelight) could be liable for actively inducing infringement of a method claim as long as the party induced one or more other parties to perform all the steps.
The Supreme Court agreed to review Limelight. EFF filed a similar amicus brief as it did in the lower court which argues, among other things, that better claim drafting could avoid the whole problem.
Finally, Nautilus involves 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), which requires that patent claims "particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor … regards as the invention." Here, contrary to the statute, the Federal Circuit's current rule doesn't require that a claim be either particular or distinct. The Federal Circuit merely requires that the claim not be "insolubly ambiguous," a very difficult standard to meet. In other words, claims aren't indefinite so long as a meaning can be ascribed—“however difficult that task may be” and even if this meaning is “one over which reasonable persons will disagree.”
EFF and Public Knowledge filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to review Nautilus. I didn't work on that brief, but when the Court agreed to review the case, I worked on our amicus brief on the merits. Our merits brief argues that vague patents harm innovation and the patent system; gives examples of patent owners drafting intentionally vague claims; and points out (as in Limelight) that better claim drafting can solve the problem.
Because our brief in Alice Corp. supported the respondent (the winning party in the appeals court), it wound up being due on February 27, 2014. In the other two cases, our briefs supporting the petitioners (the parties that lost) were due on March 3.
Alice Corp. discusses when abstract ideas can be patentable, under 35 U.S.C. § 101. As applied in this case, the statute affects the patentability of business methods and computer software, an issue on which the courts have been divided. Previously, the Federal Circuit heard the case before a panel of 10 judges to try to resolve the issue; EFF and I had filed an amicus brief in that proceeding. However, the court was unable to decide anything precedential, splitting 5-5.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to try to set a definitive precedent. Our amicus brief in the case argues that the software industry was doing just fine without patent protection before the Federal Circuit concocted the notion of broad software patents in 1994. As the brief put it:
"Software patents do not promote innovation in the computer software industry—in fact, the recent flood of such patents impedes innovation."EFF's press release about our brief in Alice Corp. is here.
Limelight is another appeal from an en banc Federal Circuit case. The case originally dealt with the issue of whether anyone is liable for patent infringement if no one person performs all the steps of the patent, that is, if separate entities perform separate steps of the claim. EFF's amicus brief argued against joint liability for patent infringement, because joint liability could ensnare innocent third parties such as users of someone else's technology. This time an 11 judge court, splitting 6-5, did decide something, but not the question of joint liability. Instead, the court held that a party (Limelight) could be liable for actively inducing infringement of a method claim as long as the party induced one or more other parties to perform all the steps.
The Supreme Court agreed to review Limelight. EFF filed a similar amicus brief as it did in the lower court which argues, among other things, that better claim drafting could avoid the whole problem.
Finally, Nautilus involves 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), which requires that patent claims "particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor … regards as the invention." Here, contrary to the statute, the Federal Circuit's current rule doesn't require that a claim be either particular or distinct. The Federal Circuit merely requires that the claim not be "insolubly ambiguous," a very difficult standard to meet. In other words, claims aren't indefinite so long as a meaning can be ascribed—“however difficult that task may be” and even if this meaning is “one over which reasonable persons will disagree.”
EFF and Public Knowledge filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to review Nautilus. I didn't work on that brief, but when the Court agreed to review the case, I worked on our amicus brief on the merits. Our merits brief argues that vague patents harm innovation and the patent system; gives examples of patent owners drafting intentionally vague claims; and points out (as in Limelight) that better claim drafting can solve the problem.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Looking Forward To The Oscars?
Looking forward to the Oscars tonight? Well, The Onion has mathematically analyzed exactly what will happen.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
"Online Content Creators Outnumber Consumers 2,000 To 1"
There are reasons why my blogging has been light lately. The Onion explains one of them -- you all have way too many other things to read. "For every one viewer, there are dozens of fully staffed companies churning out articles, videos, blogs, vlogs, and countless social media posts hoping to lure that person to click."
Anyway, thanks to my readers!
Anyway, thanks to my readers!
Friday, February 21, 2014
Federal Circuit Upholds De Novo Claim Construction
In today's Lighting Ballast v. Philips Electronics case, the en banc Federal Circuit upheld the previous Cybor case, which provides for de novo review of claim construction. The court took the case en banc to decide whether or not to overrule Cybor and allow for deferential review of a district court's factual findings. The vote was 6 in favor of upholding Cybor and 4 against, showing the the CAFC remains deeply split on some issues.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Best 2014 Super Bowl Commercials
During the last several years, I've been watching the Super Bowl for the commercials at least as much for the game. Here are my choices for the best ones this year. Sadly, there weren't that many good ones this year -- the commercials were almost as bad as the game.
- Budweiser's "Puppy Love" (released about a week before the game)
- Volkswagen's "Engineers Get Their Wings"
- Kia's "Morpheus" (The Matrix)
- MetLife/Peanuts National Anthem
- Beats Music featuring Ellen DeGeneres
- Hyundai Genesis' "Dad's Sixth Sense"
- Chrysler and Bob Dylan promoting Detroit's cars.
- First commercial after the game: Esurance -- and if you tweet what they tell you, you might win a bundle.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Two Videos
Two videos showed up today. The first one is "A Conference Call in Real Life."
This is what happens if a phone call happened in person -- especially "Happy hour in 5."
The second video is "A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL." As one coach says, "Look, I can spin around!"
This is what happens if a phone call happened in person -- especially "Happy hour in 5."
The second video is "A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL." As one coach says, "Look, I can spin around!"
Monday, January 20, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
"NSA Intercepted Children’s Letters To Santa"
"NSA Intercepted Children’s Letters To Santa"
Some excerpts:
Some excerpts:
The documents describe an operation known as MILK COOKIES, based out of Fort Meade and run in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service. COOKIES is the interception of the letters while MILK feeds them through a complex series of algorithms to spot any hidden messages.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a former senior administration official defended the program: ”We’re only looking for any unusual presents, like children who ask Santa for pressure cookers, large amounts of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, hyzadrine rocket fuel, things like that. I mean a six-year old with a hammer is bad enough; just try to imagine that same six-year old with a truck bomb.”
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Shame the 2013 Ig Nobel Prizes Have Already Been Awarded
The British Medical Journal reports on "The survival time of chocolates on hospital wards: covert observational study." Looks important.
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