Patent Search and Filing

TomTom Sued for GPS Patent Infringement (NewsFactor via Yahoo! News)
Microsoft filed a patent-infringement lawsuit Wednesday against personal navigation device (PND) maker TomTom in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The software giant is seeking compensation for each alleged infringement, together with reasonable royalty, interest and court costs.

Microsoft Sues TomTom for Patent Infringement (PC Magazine via Yahoo! News)
Microsoft sued GPS producer TomTom for patent infringement on Wednesday, claiming the Dutch company is using patented Microsoft technology without properly compensating the software giant.

New Microsoft patent-infringement case involves Linux (ZDNet)
Microsoft has filed a patent infringement case against a GPS-navigation system company. What makes the case interesting is its Linux connection.

Could Online Social Networks Help Process Enormous Backlog Of U.S. Patent Applications? (Science Daily)
Experts in intellectual property and patents explain how tools such as online social networking could be used to eradicate the enormous backlog of patent applications in the US.

Tessera raises 1Q sales estimate on patent award (AP via Yahoo! Finance)
Tessera Technologies Inc., which makes semiconductor packaging, has raised its first-quarter sales projection to account for damages won in a patent dispute last month.

NeoMedia’s Barcode Lookup Patent Approved (DataCollectionOnline)
NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. (OTC BB: NEOM), the global leader in camera-initiated transactions for mobile devices, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has ruled in favor of NeoMedia in the reexamination of its U.S. Patent No. 6,199,048, System And Method For Automatic Access Of A Remote Computer Over A Network.

Novozymes Biopharma And Upperton Limited Granted European Patent For Oncology Technology (Medical News Today)
Novozymes Biopharma and Upperton Limited today announce that the European Patent Office has confirmed the official Decision to Grant a European patent for their targeted drug delivery joint patent application (European patent No 1605979).

Microsoft and Red Hat team up on patent-free interoperability (Linux Today)
The Open Road: “For years, Microsoft has insisted that open-source vendors acknowledge that its patent portfolio is a precursor to interoperability discussions. Monday, Microsoft shed that charade and announced an interoperability alliance with Red Hat for virtualization.”

Harmonix Sues Konami Over Rock Revolution Patent Infringement (1up.com)
Oh sweet, sweet irony. Bloomberg reports ( via CVG) that Rock Band makers Harmonix (and their owner, Viacom Inc.) have filed a lawsuit again Konami and their Rock Revolution title over what they allege are patent violations for game controllers that simulate music instruments. While the article doesn’t make it clear, we assume the alleged patent violation must revolve around …

UPDATE 1-Glaxo proposes patent pool for neglected diseases (The Forex Market)
WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s chief executive urged creation of a voluntary patent pool to spark development of new treatments for neglected diseases in the world’s poorest countries.