An inventor in Inglewood, Calif., has a patent that answers the simple need of opening the fridge while holding a child or cartons of milk.
The official said the declaration on patents could answer the legitimate complaints of some African countries, while removing a moral trump card that India was using to rally opposition to a variety of American and European trade proposals.
I use citation data from both scientific articles and patents to answer two questions.
Performing this operation from within the patent thus answers the question "is this a known structure?" simply via the browser highlight and right click, compared to performing multiple database checks.
A ban on software patents is not the answer to improving patent quality, say proponents.
A recent Amazon patent could be an answer to range anxiety, albeit one that sounds a bit more sci-fi than practical solution at the moment: the newly granted patent (via Roadshow) describes a drone that could carry a battery charge for electric cars, and deliver them to any cars out on the road that need them while in route, providing enough juice to get to a proper charging station.
If approved, which is likely, the F.T.C. investigation will require patent-assertion companies to answer questions about how they conduct their operations, including whether they coordinate their lawsuits with other patent holders and if they funnel proceeds from lawsuits and patent licenses back to the original patent owner.
All the companies responded to the questions, except for Sambazon, which asked to be removed from the investigation, and 5-Hour Energy, which provided a copy of its patent in lieu of answering questions.
The company would not answer questions about patent infringement or the volume of sales.
Plato has no good answer to this patent absurdity until the Sophist (236d-264b), where he finally confronts the issue at length.
