uspto

Google has followed Apple's footsteps in getting a patent at the USPTO for the unlocking gesture for touchscreen smartphones running its Android operating system.

While Apple has patented a slide to unlock gesture, Google uses a more involved pattern

Mojang has won the first of several battles in its legal troubles involving the trademark "Scrolls". Via a tweet, Markus 'notch' Persson announced:

We won the interim injunction!

We can keep using the name "Scrolls". ZeniMax/Bethesda can still appeal the ruling, but I'm very happy.

We recently wrote about a surprising Federal Circuit (CAFC) ruling that might open the door to invalidating a lot of software patents.

Last year, we covered Paul Allen's ridiculous patent lawsuit against a ton of tech companies.

We've covered the ongoing legal fight over who can use the phrase "app store" to describe their store for apps, and the NY Times is highlighting how there's a "great language landgrab" concerning this and other similar legal battles.

Mike Wokasch accidentally alerted us to the news that Twitter is being sued for patent infringement over what may be one of the most ridiculous patents we've seen in a long time.

In the spirit of my trademark watch this morning: Earlier this week, Apple filed a U.S. trademark for VOICEPASS, in the Construction and Repair Services category.

Bloomberg casually mentioned the trademark filing earlier today, as did one iPhone tips and tricks blogger and Patently Apple.

The thing about the trademark is that it was pretty easy to find out what it is for, although I havent seen anyone discussing its impact and potential.

So here goes. The description provided to the USPTO for the trademark is pretty long, yet straightforward: Installat

Last week, the Justice Department surprised a ton of people by filing an amicus brief saying that isolated genes should not be patentable.

Marvel, now owned by Disney, apparently is not a fan of Airbase Industries introducing a new line of power tools under the brand name "Hulk." The USPTO allowed Airbase to register its own trademark, but Disney started an opposition proceeding.

Of course, then Airbase came out with its first "Hulk"-branded powertool... and it's green. That made Disney angry.

Groklaw: "Following the ruling of the Supreme Court in Bilski, the USPTO asked, in substance, how to tell an abstract idea from an application of the idea.

In this article I propose an answer to the question of what makes software abstract."