Solar-powered collapsible lighting apparatus
US Patent 8,192,044
June 5, 2012
A solar-powered lighting apparatus having a light transmissible shade coupled to a housing that receives a solar cell, a battery and at least a portion of a lighting element assembly. In one embodiment, the shade may have a spherical shape achieved with a support unit or achieved by operation of gravity. A bottom device or bottom portion may be coupled to the shade and cooperate therewith forming and maintaining the spherical shape.
Federal Circuit Rules Settlement Agreements Not Privileged
June 1, 2012
| Intellectual Property News
In many cases, litigation plaintiffs seek to enter into settlements with other parties, often assuming that those agreements can be maintained in confidence and not disclosed to subsequent defendants during the course of a litigation. The Federal Circuit has recently held that this is not the case. In an appeal involving MSTG, Inc. in a case against AT&T, MSTG had sued a group of defendants. MSTG settled with all of them other than AT&T, and during the lawsuit AT&T asked for copies of the settlement agreements. In part, AT&T took the position that the agreements and underlying negotiations could establish that they are relevant to the amount of a “reasonable royalty” that might be applied as a measure of damages in the ongoing dispute between AT&T and MSTG. When MSTG refused to produce those agreements and communications, AT&T asked the court to order MSTG to produce them, and the court granted that order.
MSTG appealed to the Federal Circuit, seeking an order of mandamus directing that the settlement documents need not be produced to AT&T. The Federal Circuit first considered whether there should be a “settlement negotiation privilege,” which would be a new privilege not previously recognized other than in the Sixth Circuit. Second, it considered whether it would be sufficient to produce only the settlement agreements themselves, without the underlying communications leading to the final agreements. Ultimately, the court concluded that there is no settlement privilege, and that both the agreements and the related negotiation documents are discoverable.
Federal Circuit to Reconsider Internet Process Patents
May 25, 2012
| Intellectual Property News
On May 21, 2012, the Supreme Court ordered the Federal Circuit to reconsider a decision related to a method for allowing Internet users to view copyrighted material for free in exchange for watching advertisements. At stake is whether a process of this sort can be patented at all, even if it is new and not obvious in view of the prior art.
The invention was approved by the USPTO, resulting in US patent 7,346,545 owned by Ultramercial. In general, the claims of the patent relate to a method in which a user accesses a website and requests to see certain content, but is only allowed to view the content for free after agreeing to view a sponsored message. There are certain additional technicalities related to tracking the activities in a log and offering items for payment. Ultimately the issue seems to be whether these additional technicalities are important enough to result in a specific application of the general principle, or are so superficial that the patent encompasses the entirety of the general principle.
After the validity of the patent was challenged, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals believed the invention was patent-eligible because the claims were drawn to specific applications of business principles, using computer hardware tp do it. If they had been drawn to more abstract principles then the court perhaps would have invalidated the patent. But the Supreme Court has recently been scrutinizing patents with claims that are arguably drawn to abstract principles and laws of nature. Generalized notions such as “buy low, sell high” or “watch for free if you will watch an advertisement” are too abstract to be patented; it is only when they are applied to a more specific environment, with particularized implementation details, that the Supreme Court considers them to be patentable. The Supreme Court had recently reached that conclusion in Mayo v. Prometheus, a case involving a patent characterized as administering a drug in an amount high enough to be effective but low enough to avoid side effects. That general notion was also considered to be a law of nature, without sufficient additional details accompanying the principle within the patent to be able to characterize the patent as a specific application rather than an effort to monopolize the law of nature.
In view of the Mayo decision, the Federal Circuit has been tasked with revisiting the patentability of the Internet patent in WildTangent v. Ultramercial. Considering the treatment in Mayo, the message to the Federal Circuit may be to perform an exacting and skeptical review of Internet patents that seek broad applications of generalized principles.
Method and system for creating reusable software components through a uniform interface
US Patent 8,185,867
May 22, 2012
A method for designing software components for integration into any system without additional coding is provided. The method includes adopting a uniform application programming interface that breaks down external objects to include the characteristics of object, attribute, and method. Ideally, the characteristics include create object, delete object, read attributes, write attributes, and invoke behavior. A software tool is provided for communication between an API and a data source, the tool including a join engine adapted to provide communication between at least one view and at least one base source associated with the data source, the join engine further adapted to update the at least one base source in response to updates to the view. Ideally, the tool is further configured to support on the at least one base source operations of create object and delete object on the at least one view. The software tool is also configured to map events in the at least one base source to the at least one view, and can be configured to create virtual attributes based on the view through operations or expressions performed on the view, including, but not limited to algebraic expressions, names, strings, and functions.
Multiply tasked touchpad remote control
US Patent 8,184,104
May 22, 2012
A remote control exploits a multiply tasked touchpad. The remote control includes a planar transparent substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface in opposed relation. A transparent organic light emitting diode (TOLED) is formed on the transparent substrate lower surface. A translucent touchpad overlays the TOLED affixed to the upper surface. A character projecting base-layer is affixed to the lower surface, such that when activated, the character projecting base projects a character through the transparent light emitting diode onto the translucent touchpad.
Shipment preparation using network resource identifiers in packing lists
US Patent 8,185,479
May 22, 2012
Example embodiments provide a Shipment Preparation System (“SPS”), which facilitates the preparation of shipments, such as by producing shipping labels. In one embodiment, the SPS is configured to receive shipment preparation information from a bar code or other machine-readable data block in a packing list. The shipment preparation information identifies a uniform resource identifier (“URI”) that identifies a code module that is remote from the SPS. The SPS then communicates with the remote code module in order to obtain information for the preparation of the shipment and/or for transmission of information about the preparation of the shipment. Obtaining information for the preparation of the shipment may include receiving an address to use for printing a label. Transmitting information about the preparation of the shipment may include posting an indication that a label has been printed, a shipment is ready for pick up, or the like.
Vehicle seat having a device for controlling a pneumatic suspension system
US Patent 8,182,038
May 22, 2012
A vehicle seat having a device for controlling a pneumatic suspension system, by means of which the vehicle seat is spring-mounted relative to a vehicle body part, including at least one directional-control valve which is pneumatically connected to the device for controlling the suspension system and which is arranged in the region of a seat part of the vehicle seat, the seat part being movable relative to a base frame and which is adjustable by a movement of the seat part relative to the base frame.
Systems and methods for powering a gimbal mounted device
US Patent 8,184,059
May 22, 2012
Gimbal power systems and methods are operable to provide power to a device attached to the gimbal. An exemplary embodiment is configured to rotate a rotational member of the gimbal system about an axis, wherein a stator of a rotary power transformer affixed to the rotational member rotates about the axis, and wherein an end of an electrical connection coupled to a power connector of a rotor winding of the rotary power transformer remains substantially stationary as the stator of the rotary power transformer rotates about the axis.
Food processing tool
US Patent 8,181,560
May 22, 2012
A food processing tool particularly suited for processing garlic and the like generally includes a main body having a tray configured to allow garlic to be passed back and forth across the tray for processing as desired. The main body optionally includes a pair of opposing guides positioned on opposing lateral sides of the tray and a plurality of ribs provided along either a portion or the entirety of the tray to reduce friction and improve the sliding ability of the garlic along the ribs and therefore the tray. A main slicing blade and one or more pluralities of blades are provided to slice, mince, or julienne cut the garlic. A pusher and cap is configured to selectively allow or restrict rotational movement of the cap and garlic for different orientations when cutting.
Architectural panel with embossed surface
US Patent D659,857
May 15, 2012
The ornamental design for the architectural panel with embossed surface, as shown and described.
