Taking and sharing pictures with wireless devices has become a common practice. It’s hardly a recent development: the distinction between computers and cameras has shrunk, especially since 2007 when smartphone cameras became standard. Even though devices that can take and… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Stupid Patent of the Month’
Price Setter LLC Falsely Claims Online Ad Invention, Demands Money from Android Devs
Unfortunately, app developers are facing another onslaught of letters demanding money they shouldn’t have to pay. This time, the sender is Jorge Maass, a patent owner who also runs a real-estate business in Texas. In recent months, Maass has been… Read More ›
How LBS Innovations Keeps Trying to Monopolize Online Maps
Stupid Patent of the Month For years, the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX) has been a magnet for lawsuits filed by patent trolls—companies who make money with patent threats, rather than selling products or services. Technology companies large and small… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: IBM’s Software Patent on Texting and Driving
In the smartphone era, “distracted driving” is a serious, and well-known, problem. Official warnings about poor driving habits are as old as the automobile itself. The New York Times published a Pulitzer-winning series on distracted driving back in 2009. Increasingly,… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Facebook Joins the Online Dating Arms Race
Earlier this month, Facebook announced that it will wedge its way into an already-crowded corner of online commerce. The social networking site plans to use its giant storehouse of personal data to create a dating service, promising to help users… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: A Token of Troll Appreciation
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case that, for the most part, banned the kind of “do it on a computer” style patents that have plagued the U.S. patent system for decades. Ever since then, IP maximalists have… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Buying A Bundle of Diamonds
This month’s Stupid Patent shows what happens when the patent system strays outside its proper boundaries. US Patent No. 8,706,513 describes a “fungible basket of investment grade gems” for use in “financial instruments.” In other words, it’s a rating and… Read More ›
Startup Won’t Give In to Motivational Health Messaging’s $35,000 Patent Demand
Trying to succeed as a startup is hard enough. Getting a frivolous patent infringement demand letter in the mail can make it a whole lot harder. The experience of San Francisco-based Motiv is the latest example of how patent trolls… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Bigger Screen Patent Highlights a Bigger Problem
For more than three years now, we’ve been highlighting weak patents in our Stupid Patent of the Month series. Often we highlight stupid patents that have recently been asserted, or ones that show how the U.S. patent system is broken…. Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Motivational Health Messaging LLC Gets a Patent on Sending Uplifting Texts
Have you ever sent a motivational text to a friend? If you have, perhaps you tailored your message to an activity or location by saying “Good luck in the race!” or “Have fun in New York!” Now, imagine doing this… Read More ›