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UK Patent Office Considers Problem Of Trivial Patents
News The UK Patent Office has launched a public consultation to examine how well the current patent system works and whether too many trivial patents are being granted. The FFII, an intellectual property campaign group, provides information on a number...
[February 7, 2006, 9:00]
UK Patent Office Under Fire Over Software Report
News The UK Patent Office (UKPO) has been criticised by anti-patent campaigners on Monday for an article it published last week on the software patent directive. However, Pollock said that the technical contribution clause does not limit the...
[November 8, 2004, 17:18]
UK Patent Office Under Fire Over Software Report
Talkback "The document is not inaccurate," said the spokesman. Really? In fact that document is not merely inaccurate but contains at least one outright lie and the UKPTO has disgraced itself and the Civil Service of which it is a part by it's recent record...
[November 9, 2004, 3:03]
Five Years Ago: UK Patent Office Backs US MMX Ruling
News The Patent Office ruled that MMX "is a term that is customary in the trade" and said "the application was accepted in error". First published 2 April, 1997. We are delighted that common sense has prevailed," said Richard Baker, regional marketing...
[April 1, 2002, 7:01]
UK Patent Office Under Fire Over Software Report
Talkback I meant to say ".is a function of how well you write your patent application" (maybe I just said 'application', which could have meant either). When I said, Whether software has a technical contribution is a function of how well you write software...
[November 8, 2004, 22:17]
UK Patent Office Considers Problem Of Trivial Patents
Talkback The problem is how to distinguish a trivial patent covering development which was cheap, from a non-trivial one, and where do you draw the line. Would you grant a patent for a newly discovered hangover prevention, made from collecting the drops...
[February 9, 2006, 9:38]
UK Patent Office Considers Problem Of Trivial Patents
Talkback If on the other hand, the 'best way' is cheap or simple to invent, which is the case with most software concepts (note 'concepts' not products - a product does take a long time and hence is expensive to develop, but most of the work is not...
[February 9, 2006, 9:36]
UK Patent Office Considers Problem Of Trivial Patents
Talkback I can't speak for FFII, but I've talked to them enough to know that the list of patents in the FFII website is not there because they are trivial, but because they are software patents, or patents in non patentable fields.
[February 7, 2006, 17:05]
UK Patent Office Considers Problem Of Trivial Patents
Talkback All of ZDNet UK pages are blocked with some stupid ad covering up the top half. Why are you hiding content underneath some useless ad? The whole of this site is now spam. Well done!
[February 7, 2006, 11:45]
UK Patent Office Considers Problem Of Trivial Patents
Talkback Get rid of the dumb ad - your site is unusable.
[February 7, 2006, 11:41]
UK Patent Office Backs US MMX Ruling
News The Patent Office ruled that MMX "is a term that is customary in the trade" and said "the application was accepted in error". We are delighted that common sense has prevailed," said Richard Baker, regional marketing manager for PC products at AMD.
[April 2, 1997, 12:22]
UK Patent Firm Details Ambitious Claim
News The first patent was filed in May 1994 and granted by the United States patent and trademark office in December 1997. They can be viewed at the US Patent and Trademark Office's Web site. The summary of the patent explained that it solved the...
[June 21, 2004, 17:45]
RIM Wins UK Patent Case
News NTP has won several court victories so far, but RIM has prevailed on the US Patent and Trademark Office to call NTP's patents into question. Research in Motion secured a legal victory on Thursday when the High Court ruled that a patent claim...
[February 2, 2006, 17:15]
Patent Office Wants Debate On Software Directive
News The UK Patent Office (UKPO) announced on Friday that it will hold a series of public workshops across the UK to discuss the proposed software patent directive. Peter Hayward, a divisional director at the UKPO, said the Patent Office accepts that...
[February 4, 2005, 11:55]
Patent Directive Slammed At UKPO Workshop
News A group of software developers and patent lawyers agreed on Thursday at a UK Patent Office (UKPO) workshop that the definition of technical contribution in the proposed European software patent directive is wrong.
[April 8, 2005, 14:30]
Patent Office Considers Wiki Peer Review
News The UK Patent Office is considering reforms to the patent system based on recommendations made in last week's Gowers Review. After being contacted by ZDNet UK on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the patent office confirmed it was considering measures...
[December 13, 2006, 16:28]
Patent Office Email Bid To Attract Public Comments
News The UK Patent Office (UKPO) has set up a facility to make it easier for people to comment on patent applications. Members of the public will now be able to comment on pending patents by email, rather than needing to contact the patent office by...
[June 3, 2005, 17:55]
European Patent Office Scotches Appeal For Review
News The European Patent Office has declined a request from the UK Court of Appeal to clarify European software patent law. According to legal website Out-law.com, the president of the EPO, Professor Alain Pompidou, who has the power to order an...
[March 22, 2007, 8:35]
Judge Rules Computer Programs Can Be Patented
News In an appeal case that was heard in November last year, The Honourable Mr Justice Kitchin heard appeals from five companies who had been told by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO, formerly the Patent Office) that their "inventions" were...
[January 29, 2008, 9:49]
Linux Kernel Maintainer 'barred' From Patents Meeting
News Alan Cox, sometime maintainer of the Linux kernel and well-known open-source advocate, is among those effectively persona non grata at the UK Patent and Trademarks Office (PTO) public meeting on software patents next week.
[December 8, 2004, 15:25]
