Microsoft Can’t Sell Windows in China
According to PC World, a Chinese court has ruled that WIndows violates a Chinese company’s IP rights. Of course, China, where somewhere around 80% of electronic materials such as computer software, movies and DVDs, and other media are pirated copies, shouldn’t complain. The problem is over the interpretation of a licensing agreement between Microsoft and the company in question; the company says that the fonts it owns are not included in the licensing agreement, Microsoft says they are. We’ll see who wins in the Chinese judicial syste

Google – in French
Trademarks are always adjectives. That is the first thing I learned in trademarks class in law school. Take that as a given. Trademarks are always adjectives. By corollary then, trademarks are never verbs. Enter GOOGLE®. GOOGLE is a search engine that prowls the internet and Finds Things with reasonable efficiency, and it is very popular. So popular, in fact, that the name of the website and company — Google — is now defined as “to search for on the internet.” Whoa. That’s a verb. Notice the infinitive there? “To search…” That must mean that the word being defined is a verb. “To google.” I hear “google” being

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-18
USPTO's 14th Annual Independent Inventors' conference scheduled in Alexandria, VA. Worth attending, inventors!! http://tinyurl.com/yzajolb # RT @nansen Verified. WARNING do NOT open tweets/DMs saying 'ur in this vid' or check out video.It's phishing scam to STEAL your password! # Powered by Twitter Tools.

14th Annual Independent Inventors Conference
14th Annual Independent Inventors Conference. It will be held at the USPTO on November 5-6, 2009. The cost of registration is $120.00, which covers both days. If you are an inventor, independent or not, this conference is worth attending. No better place to get information than straight from the horse’s mouth, and, in this case, the USPTO is the horse.

“First-to-file” rule being looked at by Senate – to decrease the patent application backlog??
According to the Wall St. Journal today: —————– “Although the office has traditionally operated with a backlog, the pile has increased in recent years. Even though there has been a drop-off in applications during the recession, it hasn’t helped examiners catch up. One reason is that overtime has been cut, so examiners spend fewer hours processing applications. What’s more, because the office is entirely funded by user fees, the dropoff has left it with a budget gap. “Patent rules haven’t changed significantly in five decades, despite many attempts by Congress. “This year, a fragile comprom