Patent Search and Filing

Court favors Microsoft in patent fight (AP via Yahoo! News)
The Supreme Court sided with Microsoft Corp. on Monday, finding that U.S. patent law doesn’t apply to software sent to foreign countries.

Supreme Court hands tech firms patent victories (Washington Post)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with software and technology companies in two major patent rulings that could leave them less vulnerable to infringement lawsuits.

Top court rules for Microsoft on patent (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
The Supreme Court on Monday overturned a ruling that Microsoft Corp. should be held liable for patent infringement on copies of the Windows operating system sold overseas.

Brazil closer to breaking Merck AIDS drug patent (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Brazil took the first step toward breaking an AIDS drug patent held by Merck & Co. on Wednesday when the Health Ministry decreed the drug was in the “public interest” and too expensive to buy.

Apple files for power adapter patent (MacNN)
Apple has filed for two new patents, with one relating to a system for mapping objects to multiple tables of a database and the other describing a new power adapter. Apple’s patent application titled “Method and apparatus for mapping objects to multiple tables of a database” aims to create a model that maps object classes in an object-oriented envi…

Court rules in Motorola’s favor in patent dispute (Chicago Tribune)
Motorola Inc. said Friday a federal court ruled in favor of the company in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System.

Brazil Moves to Break Merck’s Patent AIDS Drug Use (Update1) (Bloomberg.com)
April 25 (Bloomberg) — Brazil may break the patent on Merck & Co. AIDS drug Efavirenz unless the company agrees to slash its prices within the next seven days, Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said.

Brazil Moves to Break Merck’s Patent AIDS Drug Use (Update1) (Bloomberg.com)
April 25 (Bloomberg) — Brazil may break the patent on Merck & Co. AIDS drug Efavirenz unless the company agrees to slash its prices within the next seven days, Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said.

House panel urges patent bill compromise (Sharewatch)
At a congressional hearing Thursday, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said the goal of legislation he introduced April 18 is to address “the inability of the current patent laws to accommodate different business models,” rather than to favor one industry over another.

Vonage gets permanent stay in patent case (InfoWorld via Yahoo! News)
A U.S. appeals court has granted Vonage a permanent stay of a lower court injunction barring it from signing up new customers. Earlier this month, the lower court had ordered Vonage to stop marketing its VoIP service to new customers after it lost a patent lawsuit brought by Verizon.