Overlawyered » patent quality

New legal post at EFF

Walter Olson — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:27:35 +0000

The Electronic Frontier Foundation announces, “Thanks to a generous donation, EFF attorney Julie P. Samuels is now ‘The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents‘.”

In a less jocular vein, Dan Burk on patent reform [Cato Regulation magazine, PDF]

Tags: patent quality

New legal post at EFF is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Intellectual property roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:12:37 +0000

This is getting serious: “Patent troll targets Minecraft” [Rob Beschizza, BoingBoing] Are mainstream tech companies joining the patent-troll brigade? [WSJ Law Blog] Bessen-Meurer have another study of patent trolls out, this one suggests their direct costs to economy $29 billion a year [Joe Mullin, Ars Technica]
London Olympics games: you may link to our site only if not in a “derogatory or otherwise objectionable manner” [Popehat]
“Fan Fiction vs. Copyright – Q&A with Rebecca Tushnet” [Reason.tv]
Are the logos similar? Apparel maker Under Armour sues maker of “Body Armor” sports drink [Baltimore Sun]
“U.S. Patent System is Broken, Declares Judge in Android v. Apple Cases” [Posner; DailyTech] Posner “on Why he thinks There Are Too Many Patents in America” [Atlantic]
Startups: “Why do investors want founders to spend money and time on bogus patents?” [Cory Doctorow]

Tags: copyright, patent quality, patent trolls, Richard Posner, trademarks

Intellectual property roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Intellectual property law roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:11:19 +0000

Deborah Gerhardt on the ruling in favor of an artist who paints Crimson Tide sports highlights without University of Alabama say-so [Deborah Gerhardt/Eric Goldman, earlier here, etc.]
Posner throws out Apple/Motorola case [Tabarrok, more]
Joinder of defendants allegedly violating same patent: “D.C. Court Ruling Makes Life Tougher For Patent Trolls” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]
“Google, AOL Face Patent Suit Over ‘Snippet’ Search Results, Ads” [Justia]
“Absurd patent of the day, Apple re: wedge-shaped computers” [Tabarrok]
“Defensive Patent License: judo for patent-trolls” [Doctorow/BB]
Why are copyright terms so long? One theory [Julian Sanchez]

Tags: Apple, copyright, Eastern District of Texas, patent quality, patent trolls, Richard Posner, trademarks

Intellectual property law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 3 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:07:59 +0000

Salute to Bill Childs, who blogged with distinction at TortsProf, on departing academia for private practice [Sheila Scheuerman and Chris Robinette]
North Carolina voters who know that Amendment One would ban civil unions oppose the measure by 22 points; unfortunately, most don’t know that [Greg Sargent, WaPo; earlier] Patrick at Popehat proposes 5 things Tar Heels can do to help defeat it;
Cellphone app to hail nearby taxi? DC government searches for a way to keep that illegal [Julian Sanchez, Cato at Liberty]
Can’t the left-wing Alliance for Justice be at least minimally consistent on Supreme Court ethics? [Freedman, Legal Ethics Forum]
On lawyer jokes [David Conway and commenters, Law and Liberty]
“2,000 patents have been granted for shaped pasta” [Doctorow; see also Martin Weiss ("It pays to noodle around in the lab")]
Texas barratry law trips up state rep [Southeast Texas Record, ABA Journal]

Tags: cellphones, humor, legal blogs, North Carolina, patent quality, same-sex marriage, Texas, Washington D.C.

May 3 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 11 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:14:38 +0000

California’s Prop 65 and the numbness of overwarning [Tung Yin via Bainbridge]
Time to kill off medical-method patents [Alex Tabarrok, Medical Progress Today]
Spite decoration: “Gretna fence squabble continues in bitter fashion” [NOLA.com, Louisiana]
“The Problem With Immigration Lawyers and How to Fix It” [Dzubow/Asylumist via Legal Ethics Forum]
“Are NYC transit bus drivers prevented from calling police?” [Turkewitz]
“Circumvention tourism” is travel intended to sidestep medical regulation [Glenn Cohen, Prawfs]
Abolition of wasteful, arrogant California redevelopment agencies has Tim Cavanaugh ready to kiss a nurse in Times Square [Reason, similarly Gideon Kanner and Steven Greenhut]

Tags: California, eminent domain, immigration law, NYC, patent quality, Prop 65

January 11 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 29 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:44:12 +0000

Even before federal raid on Gibson, Lacey Act scared owners of vintage instruments: “I don’t go out of the country with a wooden guitar.” [Eric Felten/WSJ, AW, PoL, Trevor Burrus/Cato]
Dear NYT contributor Bakan: getting your kids’ attention may not require overthrowing world corporate economy [Nancy French, NR "Home Front"] More: Sullum.
“West Memphis Three” freed [Damon Root, Greenfield]
Forest Labs case: after outcry, feds drop effort to force firing of drug company CEO not charged with wrongdoing [WSJ, WLF] Background: Charles Hooper & David Henderson, Hoover (“The FDA’s War on Drugs”), The Economist (“The government seeks to sack an innocent boss”, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Steve McConnell/Drug and Device Law, Josh Wright/Truth on the Market]
Google paid dearly in smartphone deal for our dysfunctional patent system [Gordon Crovitz] “Google Should Publicly Oppose Software Patents” [Timothy Lee, Forbes]
Lawyer’s suit: Kasowitz firm ignored his “superior legal mind” [Lowering the Bar, Above the Law]
“In Chicago, You Need a License To Help Others Get a License” [Mark Perry]

Tags: cellphones, Chicago, child protection, environment, Google, music and musicians, patent quality, pharmaceuticals

August 29 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 30 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:41:06 +0000

“Woman Sues Adidas After Fall She Blames on Sticky Shoes” [Lowering the Bar]
Texas lawmakers file loser pays proposals [SE Tex Record] Actual scope of proposals hard to discern through funhouse lens of NYT reporting [PoL] Marie Gryphon testimony on loser-pays proposals in Arkansas [Manhattan Institute, related]
Google awarded patent on changing of logo for special days [Engadget via Coyote]
“Civil Gideon in Deadbeat Dad Cases Would Be ‘Massive’ Change, Lawyer Tells Justices” [Weiss, ABA Journal, Legal Ethics Forum]
Amateur-hour crash-fakers in Bronx didn’t reckon on store surveillance camera [NY Post]
“Plaintiffs’ Lawyers in Cobell Defend $223M Fee Request” [BLT]
Show of harm not needed: FDA kicks another 500 or so legacy drugs off market, this time in the cold-and-cough area [WaPo]
“Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Rough Justice Without Due Process” [Andrew Trask, WLF]

Tags: Arkansas, civil gideon, crash faking, FDA, Google, loser pays, patent quality, product liability, slip and fall, Texas, Wal-Mart v. Dukes

March 30 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 18 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:10:30 +0000

What, no more monkeys or snakes? Starting March 15 new federal regulation will restrict definition of “service animals” to dogs alone [Central Kitsap Reporter, earlier, more]
“Appeals court: SD prosecutor’s conduct denied man a fair trial” [San Diego Union-Tribune]
A tale of local regulation: “A septic system at the crossroads” [Roland Toy, American Thinker]
Firm sues Fark, Reddit, Yahoo, etc. etc. over 2002 patent on “structured news release generation and distribution,” draws rude reply from defendant TechCrunch;
UK schools minister: “no touching pupils” policy keeps music teachers from doing their job [Telegraph]
Legal ethicist Stephen Gillers hired at $950/hour to approve ethics of Ken Feinberg’s BP compensation fund work [two views: Andrew Perlman and Monroe Freedman; earlier, Byron Stier]. Per Ted at PoL, trial lawyers criticizing the arrangement “complain that BP is using the same tactic plaintiffs’ lawyers regularly use to prove their own ethics.”
Is WordPress’s quirky “Hello Dolly” plugin a copyright infringement? [TechDirt]
Congrats, you’re eligible for a job with the D.C. public school system [ten years ago on Overlawyered; more on criminal records and hiring, subject of a current EEOC crusade]

Tags: copyright, ethics, patent quality, prosecution, San Diego, schools, service animals, United Kingdom, WordPress

January 18 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Double-clicking patent takes on world”

Walter Olson — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 02:09:39 +0000

Honestly, it was only a finger twitch, I wasn’t meaning to infringe: “Hopewell Culture & Design reckons it owns the act of double-clicking, and is suing Apple, Nokia, Samsung and just about everyone else for breaching its patent.” [The Register]

Tags: cellphones, patent quality

“Double-clicking patent takes on world” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

India: Colgate patented traditional remedy, opponents claim

Walter Olson — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:19:19 +0000

“Indian activists claim that the patent [awarded to Colgate for a tooth powder] is bogus because the ingredients — including clove oil, camphor, black pepper and spearmint — have been used for the same purpose for hundreds, ‘if not thousands,’ of years on the subcontinent.” [Fox Orlando]

Tags: India, patent quality

India: Colgate patented traditional remedy, opponents claim is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system