Thursday, February 17, 2011
Most patents in 2010?
IBM continued its streak of top spot with the most patents awarded to any company by the USPTO. IBM was first with 5,896 patents, Samsung came in second with 4,551 patents, and Microsoft was third with 3,094 patents. Also in the top 10, Intel was eighth with 1,653 patents and HP was 10th with 1,480 patents. Apple gained 563 new patents in 2010 and ranked 46th.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Utah Home of Interesting Search TM Suits
Are you familiar with this piece of legislation that's poised to be law? Utah is home of whacky things, but this one in particular will prove to be a game changer in th eonline world.
In particular, Google is the one affected. Essentially, anybody who wants to compete against a particular brand name online can do so with Adwords. You know, the ads on the side of google's search results? Well you can't actually put the brand name in the ad itself, but competitors can certainly compete for real estate for targeted brands.
Well big bran dnames don't like it, they've tried to force competitors out of the paid search engine. Geico actually tried to sue Google to force them to put only GEICO related search results in their natural organic placements. Essentially they tried to force Google to put all of their Geico web info for free at the top of the search results. They lost.
But it will still be interesting to see how the future suits going forward against competitors from brands.
This may be a case of Utah governors having little concept of how the internet works and unwilling to even adopt basic free market principles. But then again, this isn't an economics blog, but one discussing TM, patents, and the like.
In particular, Google is the one affected. Essentially, anybody who wants to compete against a particular brand name online can do so with Adwords. You know, the ads on the side of google's search results? Well you can't actually put the brand name in the ad itself, but competitors can certainly compete for real estate for targeted brands.
Well big bran dnames don't like it, they've tried to force competitors out of the paid search engine. Geico actually tried to sue Google to force them to put only GEICO related search results in their natural organic placements. Essentially they tried to force Google to put all of their Geico web info for free at the top of the search results. They lost.
But it will still be interesting to see how the future suits going forward against competitors from brands.
This may be a case of Utah governors having little concept of how the internet works and unwilling to even adopt basic free market principles. But then again, this isn't an economics blog, but one discussing TM, patents, and the like.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Sarah Palin Tries to patent name
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-palin-trademark-idUSTRE7135WI20110204
True story. That's how vain she is. Well, actually it's a way to protect her income. But I do'nt care how ridiculous she is, and those who support her, the question I'm interested in is whether she'll eventually be successful in a TM.
No word if she wants to patent guns, war, and capitalism.
True story. That's how vain she is. Well, actually it's a way to protect her income. But I do'nt care how ridiculous she is, and those who support her, the question I'm interested in is whether she'll eventually be successful in a TM.
"Registration is refused because the applied-for mark, SARAH PALIN, consists of a name identifying a particular living individual whose consent to register the mark is not of record," the US patent department said.
No word if she wants to patent guns, war, and capitalism.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Changes to Patent Laws
Do we need them? Usually policies / legislation play catch up to the real world around them.
Check out this link: http://c4sif.org/2011/02/how-to-improve-patent-copyright-and-trademark-law/
Some of their list of proposed changes include:
They also have thoughts on copyright and patent law.
Thoughts?
Check out this link: http://c4sif.org/2011/02/how-to-improve-patent-copyright-and-trademark-law/
Some of their list of proposed changes include:
* Raise the bar for proving “consumer confusion”
* Abolish “antidilution” protection
* In fact, abolish the entire federal trademark law, as it is unconstitutional (the Constitution authorizes Congress to enact copyright and patent laws, but not trademark law)
They also have thoughts on copyright and patent law.
Thoughts?
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Things heating up north of 49 for TM
It's rare for the Supreme Court of Canada to hear TM cases, but one might be coming soon.
http://www.lawtimesnews.com/201101318214/Headline-News/SCC-to-consider-rare-trademark-case
http://www.lawtimesnews.com/201101318214/Headline-News/SCC-to-consider-rare-trademark-case
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