Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Information Rain!

Wow, pop-up ads are over. No one watches commercials. Now it will rain & you'll open up your palm and there will be an ad. What will they think of next?

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 20:07 0 Comments

New copyright czar

All hail the copyright and other IP czar? We export (some) goods. . we export our pop culture. . enforce the DMCA internationally. . .now we'll further our exports by going after people wherever they are. I think this is an excellent way to be a loved nation. On the other hand, obviously piracy is a serious issue. Let's hope the administration can find a balance.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 20:02 0 Comments

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Whither the future of the GPL?

In an interview, Eric Raymond discusses GPL 3.0, why he believes that the GPL is no longer a tool necessary to spur development in open source software, and more about the GPL. Fun reading.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 19:19 0 Comments

Peer to Patent system

Wired magazine has a story on a new proposal called "Peer to Patent" where inventors could select between the traditional patent system or an internet-based peer review system. The details are missing, so it's hard to support or critique it. One wonders how to manage bias, or negative thoughts toward one particular company or another -- would folks let Microsoft get another patent? Surely the patent applications would be anonymous, but one could probably guess.

I suspect it would change the prior art process as well, as companies would need to more exhaustively find and include prior art -- so as to not include too much (or too little) of their own!

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 19:05 0 Comments

Amazon fights hard to get patent

Amazon fought for four years, and through 5 rejections, to get a patent on "reminding customers" of their orders to issue. They must see this patent as extremely critical to their business future. In the meantime, Amazon sued online travel providers the next day. . .but not for this patent. We'll need to watch Amazon.com's patent management strategy in the future.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 18:57 0 Comments

Yaherkeley

It's old news now, but on Friday the University of California, Berkeley and Yahoo! announced that we (being the Industry Alliances Office at UC Berkeley) signed a collaboration agreement in July, and Yahoo! is setting up shop just off the Berkeley campus. The lab is formally called Yahoo! Research Labs - Berkeley, but I saw one student call it Yaherkeley on his blog, and I must say I like it. Press coverage has been wide ranging, and deserving of this great investment by Yahoo. Students, faculty & staff at Berkeley will have great new resources, Yahoo! will have great new energy, and it's nice to see it all came together.

Check out a few samples:
SF Chronicle
ABC News Australia
UC press release
San Francisco Business Times

Look next week for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 14:45 1 Comments

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Construct your patent claims carefully

Now more than ever, because of a Federal Appeals Court decision, patent claims will be examined more -- and without external evidence such as a dictionary. Actually seems to make some sense, as innovation, as described in a patent application, is inherently new. Dictionaries are about meanings which have emerged because use of a word has settled to the point it can be codified. Perhaps patent applications ought to include their own glossary sections. Read more in this blog.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 08:15 1 Comments

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Google wins typosquatting case

Google wins against a "typo" squatter -- (when did this become a term?) -- but I wonder if they would win if there had been a defense. This could be seen as part of trademark management, and the extension of trademark law. Trademark will indeed end up being king (queen?) on the internet.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 22:18 0 Comments

Amateur v "Asshole" Open Source

Is there a way to make money on open source software without making the community you rely on to build that software mad? JBoss is trying to find the balancing point. Interesting interview in Business Week.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 22:15 0 Comments

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Fundable.org

An idea whose time is certainly here. Fundable.org allows people to identify specific needs they have, and raise funds accordingly. If all the money is not raised, then the donations are returned. I hope this idea catches on.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 13:07 0 Comments

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Are EU software patents (finally) dead?

Reports today that EU has rejected the "software patent" bill, throwing questions into how "software" would be protected. The vote was overwhelming. So the EU has database law, but no software law. Will software be reformatted as databases? Will companies continue to fight in individual EU countries? Stay tuned. This battle took a long time in coming, and I bet backers won't give up without a fight.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 18:55 0 Comments

Friday, July 01, 2005

US to continue to control Internet

Unsurprisingly, Bush decided that he needs to still control the Internet, and ICANN is not changing to allow modifications in TLD assignment. Amazing that other countries can't even assign their own TLDs. Now I understand the purpose of a controlled vocabulary, but I understand including people as well. Where is the balance in this area? I don't believe ICANN has found it.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 22:43 0 Comments