RIM patent application details hybrid touchscreen
News The company's patent application, published at the end of July, describes a fusion between the two main types of touchscreen currently on the market. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has applied for a patent on a hybrid resistive-capacitive...
[August 7, 2009, 15:17]
Apple patents secure code
News Apple, which is in the process of switching to computers based on the omnipresent Intel processor, has filed a patent application describing a method for securely running Mac OS X on specific hardware.
[November 10, 2005, 10:20]
Is Apple planning a laptop with a camera latch?
News The patent application, which was published by the US Patent Office last week, is for a portable computer that includes a camera in the housing that secures the lid to the base. An image of the proposed device is included on the front page of the...
[September 19, 2005, 13:00]
Microsoft frowned at for smiley patent
News The patent application, which was published by the US Patent Office on Thursday, covers selecting pixels to create an emoticon image, assigning a character sequence to these pixels and reconstructing the emoticon after transmission.
[July 22, 2005, 17:15]
Google applies for image text patent
News The patent application is not the first time Google has delved into the world of optical character recognition (OCR), a technology currently used mostly for scanning documents into word-processor-friendly formats.
[January 7, 2008, 12:30]
Apple files for DRM system akin to Microsoft
News Apple has filed an updated patent application for a technology that would give it control over its software that is similar to Microsoft's much-criticised Windows Genuine Advantage. Now Apple has updated a patent application with the US Patent and...
[December 24, 2007, 12:15]
Microsoft outlines pay-per-use PC vision
News US patent application number 20080319910, published on Christmas Day, details Microsoft's vision of a situation where a "standard model" of PC is given away or heavily subsidised by someone in the supply chain.
[December 29, 2008, 11:12]
Amazon Web services marketplace patent published
News Amazon.com has received a public airing of its patent application for an online marketplace where consumers search and pay for Web services. The US patent application, filed last year and published on Thursday by the US Patent and Trademark Office...
[July 29, 2005, 13:05]
Apple tries to patent iPod interface
News In its patent application 20040055446, published on Thursday, Apple describes a graphical user interface "and methods of use thereof in a multimedia player". The patent application refers to a hierarchically ordered graphical user interface and...
[March 29, 2004, 14:40]
.Net patent could stifle standards effort
News If approved as is, the patent would cover application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow actions related to accessing the network, handling Extensible Markup Language (XML), and managing data from multiple sources.
[February 11, 2003, 7:43]
Amazon makes Web-ad patent bid
News Specifically, the company is seeking a patent for "a method in a computer system for allocating display space on a Web page, the method comprising: receiving multiple bids indicating a bid amount and an advertisement," according to the application.
[March 25, 2003, 9:34]
Possible prior art for Microsoft XML patent found
News An open source application could potentially invalidate a patent that Microsoft was granted for XML serialisation last week. The wording of Microsoft's XML serialisation patent suggests that it could cover any application that converts between...
[June 2, 2005, 18:40]
Google patent sees operators bidding for each call
News The scenario described in Google's patent application stands in sharp contrast to the way the mobile industry currently works, where users are generally locked into contracts with operators through whom all their calls and data sessions are...
[September 29, 2008, 13:30]
Patent and event reignite iPhone rumours
News A newly published Apple patent application has reignited rumours of the almost mythical "iPhone", on the eve of a press event in San Francisco. Last week the US Patent and Trademark office published a patent application that Apple made in March...
[September 11, 2006, 13:35]
Microsoft pushes for single global patent system
News In today’s world of universal connectivity, global business and collaborative innovation, it is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before...
[September 2, 2009, 16:03]
Patent injustice for small software companies
Talkback First, trusted third-party advice is that up to 60 per cent of any software created will be stolen and modified/reused within four years - even if it is patented or patent application is filed. When we decided not to pursue the patent application...
[June 30, 2005, 20:35]
Adobe-Macromedia suit: Born to settle?
News Adobe Systems's patent infringement claim against rival Macromedia is not the first move in the battle for the graphics application market. In practical terms, the patent describes the ability to pull and recombine tabs from floating palettes (not...
[August 15, 2000, 11:40]
iPod crash protection patent published
News The portable computing device protects its disk drive by monitoring for such accelerations and operating to avoid usage of the disk drive during periods of acceleration," Apple said in the patent application, which was published Dec.
[December 24, 2004, 8:50]
Voice-interface patent published by Google
News Though the patent was published on Tuesday, the application was originally filed in February 2001, indicating that Google has had the project in the works for some time. A recently published patent provides further evidence that Google is...
[April 13, 2006, 10:35]
Microsoft slammed over XML patent
News As applications will often need to convert between programming objects and XML files, this patent could cover virtually any application that uses XML to transfer data. This patent, EP1267277, is described as a method for "modifying the data...
[May 26, 2005, 18:30]



