Microsoft Loses Patent Lawsuit

One of the top news stories this week that got virtually no popular press involves the judgment against Microsoft by a small company with a big software patent.

University of California and Eolas Technologies, Inc. hold a patent which Microsoft, according to several judges, violated with its popular Internet Explorer Web browser.

Without going into painful technical detail, the patent involves the "ActiveX" technology enabling Web browsers to display both web pages and content such as streaming audio, Flash, QuickTime video and other "rich" or "dynamic" content.

Despite heated input by the Internet community to invalidate Eolas' patent because of its broad nature, Microsoft lost every appeal and effort to get the patent nullified.

Bottom line: Microsoft faced two choices. First, they could pay the patent owner and keep things moving along, business as usual (much the way Blackberry did recently when a judge found them guilty of patent infringement).

Second choice: Microsoft could avoid future licensing fees by changing their IE browser and removing the offending code.

Which do you think they chose? Ding-ding-ding!

You guessed it, Microsoft chose to avoid paying millions more by simply removing the offending code.

Unfortunately, that decision means a bit of trouble for a few million web designers who use Flash, streaming movies, and more.

Ultimately, the change to IE may force visitors to sites with rich content to click on an object to enable it before they can interact with it.

Not a huge deal. However, time will tell what ultimately happens and the actual impact on sites running rich content.

But before everyone starts screaming that "The sky is falling" and "our websites are broken," let me ask you a question.

Do you really think that companies like Macromedia (makers of Flash) and sites like Google Video will let a few changes in Internet Explorer put them out of business?

I don't think so!

If anything, this change will force companies to step up to the plate and discover ways to serve dynamic content that does not depend on ActiveX.

Sure, it will mean some pain for both content creators and users in the short term, but in the end I honestly believe that, through innovation, we will all end up with a better solution than what currently exists.

In other news today...

** Hollywood Goes Online **

Six major movie studios recently announced their intentions to start selling new-release movies via Internet download from the site MovieLink.com.

But before you jump for joy at watching "Brokeback Mountain" on your pc, understand a couple of facts.

You can't burn the movie to DVD, and the downloadable films carry a price tag of around $15-30, a price comparable or more than a physical DVD you can purchase at Wal-Mart.

As a rabid DVD consumer and enthusiastic computer user (with six in my home office alone), I can tell you right up front, there is no way in @#$%* I'll pay 20 bucks for a movie I can't "veg" out with in front of the TV.

Are they insane?

Until it gets to the point where you can download a new- release movie, burn it to DVD or put it on your iPod, downloadable flicks will remain, at best, a novelty.

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Intellectual Property - The 3 Branches: Copyrights, Patents & Trademarks

When you hear the phrase intellectual property, what do you think of? How can something that exists in your mind be considered property? Are your ideas your property similar to that of your house or car?

Simply put, no, your ideas are not something you can solely own. After all, if ideas were never shared in the marketplace, where would we be? Imagine if Bill Gates had never shared his ideas about the new BASIC programming language that he and Paul Allen developed...would Microsoft exist? How would that have impacted our world today? Let's take it back even further: what would life be like if Louis Pasteur had never shared his ideas about heat treatment, what we now call pasteurization? The sharing of ideas has brought us to where we are, good and bad.

So, what is intellectual property?

Intellectual property is those ideas fixed in a form. That is, it is NOT the idea itself but rather how it's presented. It's also the laws set up to register, manage and govern those presentation of ideas. That can be a bit hard to wrap your mind around so let's look at some examples from the three branches of intellectual property: copyrights, patents and trademarks.

Copyrights:

Copyrights can be obtained for things of an artistic nature. This includes, of course, poetry, films, sculptures, music, fiction, etc. But can also include things that may not necessarily seem "artistic" in the general sense of the word. Copyrights can also be obtained for advertising copy, games, software programs and blueprints, to name just a few.

Patents:

Patents are protection for inventions as well as significant improvements to already existing inventions. Inventions are mostly thought of as things like Edison's electric lamp or phonograph. There are three distinct sections within the patent realm - utility, design and plant. Utility patents protect the invention in its utilitarian sense (i.e. how it functions and how it's used) whereas design patents protect the invention in its ornamental appearance. Let's go back to Edison for an example: he obtained a utility patent for his electric lamp as well as a design patent for the look/design of the electric lamp.

Trademarks:

Trademarks can be names of products or services, logos, slogans, packaging and even sounds and smells. In essence, a trademark can be almost anything that is used to identify a particular product or service. Registering a trademark grants the owner exclusive rights to the mark within the specified industry. Of course, it's necessary to research the mark comprehensively prior to filing to ensure that there is no possibility of infringing upon another party.

Summary:

In a nutshell, those are the three branches of intellectual property. The free flowing of ideas has been and will continue to be important to our world development. Of course, protecting those ideas of yours, whatever form they take, can be just as important. Would Bill Gates be the richest person in the world if he had not secured all of his intellectual property rights?

Let your ideas flow...but be sure to protect your intellectual property!

Shannon Moore is the General Manager, East Coast for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at TradeMark Express or call Shannon directly at 800.340.2010.

Patents ? American Greatness

We all know what a patent is in general, but how much do you really know about patents and how they have shaped America? Our advances in technology here in America have surpassed that of all other countries combined. Many do not like to hear that, but it is a fact, and it has more to do with how America moved ahead of other countries economically than any other factor and still does today.

In this article, I will cover many of the advances made by American Inventors throughout our relatively short history compared to other countries.

Not all inventions that helped make America great were originated in America, but even those that were not invented and patented here, were put to better use here, like a way to produce steel in large quantities for instance. Originally patented by a British inventor named Henry Bessemer. He invented the Bessemer Converter or the Bessemer Process.

He obtained his patent in 1855, even though the process was known in China in the third century. According to wikipedia.com, ? The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation through air being blown through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and keeps it molten.?

However, ingenious Americans like Andrew Carnegie put it to use and built everything from tin cans to skyscrapers to railroads and ships. Many American inventions were patented because of the ability to process steel faster.

Many people credit Benjamin Franklin for the discovery of electricity. While that is true, electrification is not quite the same thing. People like Thomas Edison had introduced direct-current systems, what we know as DC. Nikola Tesla worked toward using AC, or alternating current.

Tesla was Slavic, but a citizen of the US when he did all of his important work on electricity. At the turn of the century, Tesla was already working in fields like robotics and ballistics. George Westinghouse was a friend of Tesla?s and a major competitor to Thomas Edison. George Westinghouse put electricity to use in more practical ways than the inventors.

Westinghouse also invented things and held many patents of his own. People associate him with appliances, but he held patents that had to do with railroads as well. He held a patent on a system to put railroad cars back on the tracks after they had been derailed. He even held the patent for inventing the first air-brakes.

Electricity and Steel Processing are just two of the great scientific discoveries that made this country great. I only bring those scientific discoveries into this article to show you something about patents. Many people know about the significant scientific discoveries like nuclear power, the automobile, the airplane, electronics, radio and television, agriculture, computers, the telephone, air conditioning, refrigeration, spacecraft, the Internet, and so much more, most of which was either invented in America or put to the best use here in America.

But those significant scientific discoveries make up only a small percentage of all the patents that are applied for and granted. Most patents stem from one or more of the great scientific discoveries, but the patents are granted for the unique use of or combinations of the great discoveries.

The genius and inventiveness of the American citizen over all others can be attributed to the fact we are a free society. Free speech also means freedom of thought. Freedom of though leads to great knowledge and discovery.

While some inventions or great scientific discoveries can be attributed to people of foreign countries, nowhere are those discoveries and inventions put to better use throughout history than in the United States.

For each major scientific discovery, thousands of patents are filed that put it into practical use. Today, patents are still applied for at an extremely fast rate. America has not stopped inventing and patenting their ideas. As long as the American culture continues to foster this innovation, America will stay far ahead in all technological fields, while countries that suppress the freedoms of their citizens will lag far behind.

I hope this article, while we only touched on a few inventions and discoveries, gives you some insight into why America stays far ahead of the rest of the world through technology. Search through the US Patent Office Website and you will discover just how many inventions are patented every day.

Chuck Crawford is an established webmaster interested in various topical research. If you would like more info on Patents, please visit his website at http://patents.thegiftedone.com This article may be reprinted freely as long as all links remain active. Affiliate Website Design Articles.PN Article Science