February 28, 2012 - Despite the fact that Yahoo and Facebook teamed up last September to integrate Yahoo News with Facebook - effectively tripling Yahoo News's daily traffic - Yahoo says that Facebook must license 10-20 of its patents or face legal action.
The patents relate to social networking, advertising, chat services and Web site personalization.
February 27, 2012 - Earlier this month, we reported that the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) and other groups - adding up to over 300,000 organic farmers - had filed suit against Monsanto Co., asking for court protection from the agriculture giant's aggressive patent enforcement of its genetically-modified seeds.
February 24, 2012 - As a result of Motorola Mobility's patent infringement suit against Apple in a German court, users of MobileMe and iCloud in that country will have to perform an extra step to obtain new messages.
Users of ActiveSync or other push motification mechanisms will not be affected because the companies that provide those services are not part of Motorola's lawsuit.
February 15, 2012 - Apple filed yet another patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung last week, this time requesting a preliminary injunction on the Galaxy Nexus device.
In light of last year's patent auctions of historic proportions and Google's ongoing attempt to purchase Motorola Mobility, major players in the mobile industry are attempting to assuage anti-trust jitters at standards bodies such as the IEEE. Microsoft, Google and Apple have all used various means to make the case that they won't use the patents they acquire to create a monopoly.
So much for owning the interactive Web.
Shortly after the true "father of the Internet," Tim Berners-Lee, testified in the case of Eolas Technologies v. several Web giants, a jury found Eolas' patents invalid.
A pretty exciting scene took place in Tyler, Texas recently. In a lawsuit brought against some big Internet names including Google, Amazon and Yahoo by Eolas, a company with a patent on the "interactive web," the star expert witness was the guy who actually did invent the World Wide Web. (And no, it wasn't Al Gore!)
Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web back in the early 1990s, was that witness. But when asked by Jennifer Doan, the attorney for defendants Yahoo and Amazon, if he'd applied for a patent on the World Wide Web, he replied that he hadn't.
February 6, 2012 - Apple has broadened its patent suit against Samsung in Australia, adding 278 new infringement claims that cover 22 patents and ten devices. The original lawsuit only claimed infringement by the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Last year, Apple almost prevented Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab products in Australia when it won an injunction banning their sale.
February 4, 2012 - The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) filed suit against Monsanto in March 2011 in an attempt to gain protection for their members from Monsanto's aggressive patent enforcement policy. Now, following oral arguments that took place in late January 2012, they are waiting for a New York judge's decision on whether the case can go forward.
February 2, 2012 - Motorola filed a new patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the iPhone 4S and iCloud service violate six Motorola patents between them. Two of the patents are allegedly infringed by the iPhone 4S and four by the iCloud.