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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study challenges the traditional view that patents foster innovation, suggesting instead that they may hinder technological progress, economic activity and societal wealth. These results could have important policy implications, because many countries count on patent systems to spur new technology and promote economic growth.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide what sorts of business methods might be patented, an issue with the potential to reshape significant parts of the economy. “This is the most important patent case in 50 years, in particular because there is so much damage and so much good the court could do,” said John F. Duffy, a law professor at George Washington University who submitted a brief in the appeals court in support of neither side. “The newest areas of technology are most threatened by the issues at stake here,” Professor Duffy said. “The court taking...

Six months ago I noted that the European Patent Office had embarked upon a fairly abstruse process: a referral of a “point of law” concerning software patents by the President of the European Patent Office (EPO) to the EPO “Enlarged Board of Appeal”, something that seems to happen quite rarely. Now, you do not have to be a genius to see the problem with this; essentially, the EPO is asking itself whether it wants to widen its own jurisdiction, increase its power and boost its income by allowing software patents. Unless the Enlarged Board of Appeal consists entirely of self-denying,...

TomTom and Microsoft have settled the patent litigation. Here's TechFlash's coverage. According to the Microsoft press release, TomTom will remove functionality regarding the FAT patents within two years, which is no big deal, frankly, and in the meantime, they are covered "in a manner that is fully compliant with TomTom’s obligations under the General Public License Version 2 (GPLv2)": Peter Spours, Director of IP Strategy and Transactions at TomTom N.V., stated: “This agreement puts an end to the litigation between our two companies. It is drafted in a way that ensures TomTom’s full compliance with its obligations under the GPLv2,...

A Northern Arizona University political science professor is working with Southern African farmers studying their agricultural expertise and exposing trade agreements that could threaten the world's food supply. For more than 30 years, Carol Thompson has been consulting on international agriculture trade issues, spending months or years at a time living in Southern African countries studying agricultural expertise and working to "expose constraining trade agreements imposed upon African farmers." Her recent book, Biopiracy of Biodiversity - Global Exchange as Enclosure, analyzes current international agricultural trade policies, explains how they originated, and how they are impacting the world and indigenous cultures....

Confessions of a Very Old Man My name is Benjamin. Here I lie in Philadelphia. I caught lightning with a kite. wrote an Almanac. I perfected a postal service. I coaxed a treaty with France. But most important of all, 221 years ago last week I encouraged 39 men To sign a four-page document To give you a republic, If you can keep it. Yes, the 17th of September was the 221st birthday of the Constitution, and I choose to talk about it through the three great contributions that Benjamin Franklin made to that document. Plus, of course, his summary...

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- The latest thinking in the Silicon Valley scene regarding the Microsoft-Yahoo-Carl Icahn Saga, which is not going away, might be about some sort of killer patent owned by Yahoo. Right now financial researchers everywhere are trying to figure out what exactly the patent is. The blogosphere has been abuzz with various notions that the real reason Microsoft Corp. wants Yahoo Inc. has to do with a patent that Microsoft needs to implement its future money making philosophies. One of the hot articles with the most details regarding these possibilities is written by blogger-essayist Usman Latif, who...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two consumer groups have filed an appeal with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office contesting its March ruling upholding the exclusive patents for stem cells. The office said the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds the original patent on embryonic stem cells, can keep its patents. The patents cover all embryonic stem cells used in the United States and any scientists or research firms wanting them must pay WARF's hefty prices for them. The California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Consumer Watchdog Foundation are the groups behind the lawsuit and it said WARF...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently received an application seeking a patent for what was claimed to be a better way to stand in line while waiting to use an airplane toilet. Jon Dudas, director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, said the example may be extreme, but it illustrates the declining quality of U.S. patent applications his agency has seen since 2000 as more applicants attempt to game the system. Speaking at an IP symposium here on Wednesday (April 16), Dudas said the quantity of applications for U.S. patents is skyrocketing--more than 500,000 applications are expected this...

With automakers patenting more parts to enhance dealers' service and repair revenues, the knockoff business is taking a big hit. The patenting of more run-of-the-mill auto part designs is roiling small body shops, many of which make their living by fixing cars with knockoffs of original equipment parts such as grilles, hoods, lights, mirrors, side panels and fenders. Such pieces are anywhere from 10% to 50% cheaper than the real McCoys, but increasingly, the law forbids their use. Automakers have long sought patents on certain extra-stylish ornamentation to prevent other automakers from cribbing the design for their vehicles. But the...

Within the patent attorney/patent trolling world, there's been a story gathering steam over the last couple months that seems to only get more bizarre every week. It started, simply enough, at the beginning of September when a company, which was just formed a few months ago, called Illinois Computer Research, sued Google for patent infringement. The patent in question (which amusingly enough, can be found hosted at Google) is officially for "Enhancing touch and feel on the internet". The details show that it's really just describing how you might represent a book online -- and, in fact, the lawsuit points...

(Minneapolis, Minn.) — Honeycrisp has been a sweet little item for the University of Minnesota. "It's generated over $6 million for the University," according to Jay Schrankler, director of the University of Minnesota's office for technology commercialization. That places Honeycrisp, Schrankler says, among the U's top five earners among the institution's inventions. (Royalties from a vaccine patented for fighting HIV amount to tens of millions of dollars.) The U splits royalty income three ways. One third goes to the inventors, one third goes to the college and department where the faculty work and one third goes into a fund for...

The House yesterday passed the most comprehensive patent reform in half a century, delivering a victory for computer technology and financial services companies and leaving drug companies, small inventors, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office bracing for a bigger fight before the bill hits the Senate floor. The bill, which passed 225 to 175 with strong bipartisan support, is meant to reduce the mounting number of patent infringement cases by changing the ways patents are awarded and challenged. Because much of the bill is perceived to be favorable to targets of patent-infringement suits rather than patent holders, it has...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed Friday (Sept. 7) a sweeping and controversial patent reform bill. HR1908 aims to raise the quality of patents and reduce patent litigation and abuse. Sharply divided reactions came quickly in the wake of the 219 to 176 vote that was led by Democrats. A companion bill in the Senate has yet to be brought up for a vote. President George W. Bush might exercise a veto on any final legislation that does not meet administration requirements set out in a statement released earlier today. Similar bills have been proposed in several past legislative sessions...

Congressman Rohrabacker was on the floor railing against H.R.1908 due for a vote on the floor Friday. Just caught the last three or four minutes of his speech. He called it the STEAL AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY ACT. Asked all Americans to call their congresscritters and demand that they vote this bill down as we did for the Shamnesty bill. I don't know everything this bill holds, but he was very angry so I thought I should get it out their. He claims that congress is being very quiet about this bill, because they don't want "us" to be aware of it....

AUSTIN, Texas - Millions of inventions pass quietly through the U.S. patent office each year. Patent No. 7,033,406 did, too, until energy insiders spotted six words in the filing that sounded like a death knell for the internal combustion engine. An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline. By contrast, some plug-in hybrids on the horizon would require motorists to charge their cars in a wall outlet overnight and promise only 50 miles of...

The companies are accused of violating a patent on automatic message routing held by Polaris IP. The patent has a long history in litigation, but all the cases have been settled out of court. Six major Internet companies have been sued for using computers to process their e-mail. AOL, Amazon, Borders, Google, IAC, and Yahoo stand accused of violating a patent on automatic message routing held by Texas-based Polaris IP. Attorneys representing Polaris IP filed a claim of patent infringement on Monday in U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall, Texas. The lawsuit charges the companies...

In extraordinary Senate-House coordination, the two Judiciary committees in the same week voted out a bill (S.1145 and H.R.1908) which, if it becomes law, will spell the end of America's world leadership in innovation. Called the Patent Reform Act, it is a direct attack on the unique, successful American patent system created by the U.S. Constitution. Prior to 1999, the U.S. Patent Office was required to keep secret the contents of a patent application until a patent was granted, and to return the application in secret to the inventor if a patent was not granted. That protected the legal rights...

James Bottomley is really on top of things (sorry -- we had to say it) when it comes to Linux. The CTO of SteelEye Technology is also on the board of the Linux Foundation. In that capacity, he helps smooth the transition of disparate Linux organizations into the still fairly new Foundation. As such, Bottomley's obviously got some insight into Microsoft's continued patent deals with Linux distributors. Those patent deals took another turn this week as Redmond claimed that its deal with Linspire didn't cover software developed under the latest version of the license that governs Linux use, the now...

The globalists are making a new attempt to circumvent and weaken a right explicitly recognized in the U.S. Constitution: Americans' exclusive ownership of their own inventions. Fortunately, Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., have exposed this mischief and called on Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to slow down and discuss the proposed legislation before making costly mistakes. As we've learned with "Comprehensive Immigration Reform," we should all be on guard any time politicians patronize us with pompous talk about "reform." The so-called Patent...