Monica Selby
When do you get a patent?
There’s a little debate over when (and what) to patent when you’re working in startups. What do you think about early stage patents?
How to Know When to Get That Patent
[UPDATE] Google Assures Us That The Galaxy Nexus Will Be Shipping Again Next Week
Elijah Ketchum
The Galaxy Nexus sold directly from Google Play was moved from “In Stock” to “Coming Soon” due to a preliminary injunction filed against it by Apple. Because Apple holds so many vague patents, judges will often do things such as suspend sales (like we saw with the Tab 10.1) because Apple feels there are infringements in products from Samsung and Google. Of course, the Android community was either infuriated or just disappointed by a somewhat broken patent system that allows this, and Apple fanboys either don’t care or are rejoicing over their “victory.” Either way this smartphone war has proved to be as bitter as ever, without showing any signs of less aggression.
Google said they had a fix though, through software, that would allow them to get the Galaxy Nexus shipping again without any ridiculous delays. They have just told ABC that they will resume sales and shipping next week. This is very good for both Google and the image of Android, as this is the flagship “Pure Google” experience device that is available other than the Nexus 7. At only $349 from the Play Store (GSM HSPA+ only), it’s nothing shy of a great deal either.
Specifically, the patent Apple has seen as infringed upon is its “Siri patent” that patents a single interface searching multiple sources and delivering those results back to the user in a “common sense” fashion. Again, this is a pretty vague patent, and really presses on what Google is all about: search. So whether they will change or even remove Google’s search bar and Google Now service is unknown, but El Goog has assured us things will be back in full swing shortly. Let’s hope they’re right.
UPDATE: Sales have been resumed by allowance of a federal appeals court until July 12. “Coming Soon” is still posted on the Play Store to purchase a Nexus, but we expect that to change soon.
Alabama Startup: Arch Data Intelligence Introduces Arch Patent
Kyle
A very promising startup in Huntsville Alabama has released a professional version of their patent product called Arch Patent. Arch Patent is a product catered to startup founders, inventors, lawyers and corporate R & D departments.
According to founders Tony Rainoldi and Jason Martin, who are both graduates of UA Huntsville, say that their product simplifies patent research.
Most investors, lawyers, and founders are relying on free search tools and even Google to do vital research on intellectual property and patents, that could, down the road, lead to a ton of legal problems. The Arch Patent product has fees associated with it, but it’s much more affordable than hiring a patent research firm.
“We found that people were relying on free search tools offered by Google and other, but were frustrated that they didn’t do enough. They had lots of ideas about what functionality they needed to save time and money. We set out to build the best patent search tool available,” Martin said to AL.com
Arch Patent has other advantages too. One of those is the ability to search patents dating back to 1920. Other patent searches only go back to 1976. Arch Patent will eventually grow to be part of what the two co-founders are calling the Arch IP Global Marketplace.
Rainoldi and Martin are using $25,000 in seed money that they recently won in the Alabama LaunchPad Business Plan Competition. There were three UA Huntsville entrants in the competition. Of the three, Arch Data Intelligence was the only one to make it to the pre-seed or proof of concept stage. They then advanced to the next field where they took part in sharing a $100,000 seed money prize.
Linkage:
Find out more about Arch Data Intelligence here
Source: AL.com
Nibletz is the voice of Startups “Everywhere Else”
Patent Wars: Samsung Accused Of Destroying Evidence
The judge in the Apple vs Samsung patent case has been throwing the book at the Korean manufacturer. They recently went under fire for failing to turn over source code pertaining to a work-around that Samsung has used to protect itself from a patent Apple holds for “overscroll-bounce”.
Samsung didn’t give that source code up in the allotted time frame and Apple asked the presiding Judge Paul Grewal to essentially disqualify any work around source-code from Samsung’s patent defense. Grewal granted that Apple request, laying down these sanctions:
Samsung shall be precluded from offering any evidence of its design-around efforts for the ‘381, ‘891 and ‘163 patents, and shall not argue that the design-arounds are in any way distinct from those versions of code produced in accordance with the court’s order. Samsung must instead rely solely on the versions of code that were produced on or before December 31, 2011
More after the break
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Foss Patents Founder Florian Mueller Taking Money From Oracle
The interwebs went wild on Friday when it was revealed that trusted patent blogger Florian Mueller is actually being paid by Oracle and may be in line for a top paying job with the company that’s embattled in a bitter patent suit with Google.
Over the past couple of years, the self proclaimed patent expert has been quoted on every site in the tech blogsphere from Engadget to Yahoo, and even the likes of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNET. It was assumed with his patent rhetoric and court documents all over his site that he knew what he was talking about. No one took into consideration the fact that until just a couple of months ago his site was hosted by Blogger.com and not even his own domain name.
Mueller has received a lot of criticism for his anti-Google position, however it’s now surfaced that he has actually been paid by Oracle which explains his anti-Google position.
Mueller has recently posted an “ethics” statement of sorts on his blog which it seems that he feels relieves him from any potential backlash:
That said, as a believer in transparency I would like to inform you that Oracle has very recently become a consulting client of mine. We intend to work together for the long haul on mostly competition-related topics including, for one example, FRAND licensing terms.
More after the break
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