Federal Circuit Avoids §101 Analysis in Determining Patent Validity By Jacob Rogers – Edited by Lauren Henry MySpace, Inc. v. Graphon Corp., No. 2011-1149 (Fed. Cir. 2012) Slip opinion The Federal Circuit affirmed Northern District of California’s ruling on summary judgment that four of Graphon’s patents were invalid due to either lack of novelty or obviousness under 35 U.S.C. §102 and 35 U.S.C. §103, respectively. The district court found that these patents, which disclose a method for creating and searching ... Read More...
Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
By Charlie Stiernberg What Changed in Google’s Privacy Policy Google recently announced changes to its privacy policy and terms of service, prompting concerns by a bipartisan group of congressmen over the future safety of customer data. Reuters reports that Pablo Chavez, Google’s director of public policy, responded directly to the lawmakers’ questions in a letter, stating that “the updated privacy policy does not allow us to collect any new or additional types of information about users.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation ... Read More...
Written by Susanna Lichter Edited by Laura Fishwick Editorial Policy “CyberPatrol, ” “SniperSpy,” and “IamBigbrother” are the names of keyloggers that might be installed on your office computer. These easy to use and inexpensive hardware or software devices record keystrokes and allow a monitor to access email, and other password-protected accounts of an unsuspecting typist. Employers are using keyloggers more often in the workplace to oversee employees without their knowledge. Managers argue that computer surveillance is important to ensure productivity, ... Read More...
New Information about Carrier IQ Software Sparks Concerns that Wireless Carriers Have Violated Federal Anti-Wiretapping Laws By Abby Lauer – Edited by Michael Hoven Last month, a security researcher from Connecticut published information about a software program installed on some mobile smartphones that may be surreptitiously collecting data about how the phones are used. The software, called Carrier IQ and manufactured by a company of the same name, has been described as hard to detect, hard to remove, and programmed ... Read More...
Ninth Circuit Holds that Apple did not Engage in Copyright Misuse By Laura Fishwick – Edited by Michael Hoven Apple Inc. v. Psystar Corp., No. 10-15113 (9th Cir. Sept. 28, 2011) Slip Opinion The Ninth Circuit affirmed the Northern District of California’s holding that Psystar infringed Apple’s federal copyrights, and vacated and remanded the district court’s grant of Apple’s motion to seal summary judgment papers. The district court had rejected Psystar’s defense of copyright misuse, in which Psystar had argued ... Read More...
