Julie Samuels - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Lawmakers try again to curb abusive patent lawsuits

  A group of U.S. lawmakers has reintroduced a bill aimed at limiting the ability of so-called patent trolls to file abusive patent infringement lawsuits.

• Supreme Court: Abstract idea isn't patentable when tied to a computer

  An abstract idea is not patentable simply because it is tied to a computer system, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, potentially making it more difficult to patent some software in the future.

• Supreme Cout justices question some software patents

  The U.S. Supreme Court could wipe out a whole swath of software and business-method patents if justices invalidate four electronic-trading patents, an attorney for patent-owner Alice said.

• Cisco, EFF call on Congress to target patent-troll demand letters

  The U.S. Congress should take action to slow a skyrocketing number of "deceptive" patent infringement demand letters sent from patent licensing firms to small businesses, witnesses told a Senate committee.

• New patent reform bill targets so-called trolls

  New patent reform legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday aims to make it more difficult for so-called patent trolls to file infringement lawsuits.

• Personal Audio defends its podcasting patent

  The company that owns a U.S. patent for podcasting is confident the patent will stand up to a challenge initiated this week by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

• Appeals court ruling could be 'death' of software patents

  A U.S. appeals court has ruled that an abstract idea is not patentable simply because it is tied to a computer system, signaling what one judge described as the "death" of software and business method patents.

• Tech groups call on Congress to battle patent trolls

  So-called patent trolls force tech companies to spend money on lawyers instead of innovation, and the U.S. Congress needs to discourage infringement lawsuits from patent-collecting companies, a group of tech and business representatives said.

• US appeals court asks whether to limit software patents

  Should an abstract idea written into software and run on a computer be patentable? That's one question a U.S. appeals court will consider Friday when it hears arguments in a case with broad implications for software patents for companies as diverse as Google and Red Hat.

• DOJ: Hearing on Megaupload stored data should be limited

  A U.S. judge should limit the scope of a proposed court hearing examining whether a former Megaupload user can recover files that were on the website when the U.S. Department of Justice shut it down, the agency said.