Week 14 Blog 28: Silly Patent #2

Something of possible interest for college students is the next silly patent I discovered, the strap-on waste container. When a user needs a portable device to keep his vomit into a bag, he can simply strap this bad boy around his face and enjoy a less messy end to a Thirsty Thursday night. The neck strap can also be broken with a certain amount of exerted force for easy removal so the user has to be careful not to throw up too much into the container and make it too heavy.

Honestly, we've all been there when we needed to throw up badly, whether we were on an airplane or on the apartment floor next to god-knows-how-many-beer-cans, and people normally use plastic bags. I have seen someone hang the bag handles over the person's ears so the bag wouldn't fall out, and I suppose that's what inspired this patent. This looks rather obvious to me because it's common sense for a person to look for a container when they need to vomit, but I guess the idea is to have it around your neck with detachable straps. Definitely useful at bars or parties as a fun item, this patent may be hard to enforce.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6874936.PN.&OS=PN/6874936&RS=PN/6874936

Week 14 Blog 27: Silly Patent #1

Thanks to Patently Silly, I have discovered some very weird patents issued by the USPTO. Many people get piercings. Some are creative, some are bold, and some are just placed in the most obscure places. People have different reasons for body-piercing jewelry, but I'm sure everyone will be surprised when their piercings start vibrating. U.S. Patent No. 6,865,907 describes a body-piercing jewelry with a vibrating motor unit, for a certain purpose I cannot think of.

Something very interesting to note is how these piercings will house such tiny motor as well as a power source, which will have to be some of the smallest batteries. Another question that comes to mind is if the piercings will hold in place when it starts vibrating or cause potential injuries on the user's body. I definitely don't think it's obvious, but some people may find it a novel item. For whatever reason these would be used for, I'd be interested in how they engineer this technology.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6865907.PN.&OS=PN/6865907&RS=PN/6865907

Week 13 Blog 26: iMessage and MTel

Apple has received yet another patent lawsuit. Mobile Telecommunications Technologies (MTel) accused Apple of infringing its U.S. Patent No. 5,809,428 with its iMessage feature. This accusation is rather broad and targets all Apple devices, from the iPhone to iPad, any device that provides text messaging and email support. The patent describes a "method and device for processing undelivered data messages in a two-way wireless communications system".

I think this will be another example of a broad patent targeting anything somewhat related, and pretty soon, lawyers will try to clearly define a patent and specify to the very last word to differentiate with a minor difference. If MTel's allegations are true though, it seems like Apple will have to pay up. Now I'm curious as to how other mobile devices with Android platforms handle undelivered messages, as opposed to MTel or Apple.

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/messages-lands-apple-in-patent-lawsuit-with-mobile-telecom

Week 13 Blog 25: Caught the Fox(conn)

It's been widely accepted that Microsoft has been generating more profits from royalties from its rivals in the mobile industry than from its own Windows Phone. Equipped with patents, the company has been reaching around collecting its profits from others. Now they've reached a patent licensing agreement with Foxconn, linked to Google's Android and Chrome OS platforms. Unlike Apple who hopes to weed out its competitors, Microsoft is learning to make profit from its rivals little by little.

Microsoft has already succeeded in its intellectual property rights licensing program with HTC, Samsung, LG, and Acer. I think this is a pretty smart strategy that could potentially be dangerous for the Android market later when Microsoft gets too involved behind the scenes.

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2013/04/18/microsoft-nets-foxconn-android-patents.htm

Week 12 Blog 24: If you can't beat them, acquire them

Normally when we hear about mobile patents in the latest news, they're usually about how one is suing another, entering an extremely costly lawsuit for god knows how long. However, there is a rather peaceful alternative to dealing with sharing technology that do not require court trials. Apple has recently agreed to a $10 million licensing deal with Access Corporation, a Japanese software provider for mobile devices. Yeah it wasn't cheap, but better than bringing up a patent infringement case with lawyers costing hundres of millions.

What does this mean? If you have the money to pay for it, you can buy your access to another company's patent portfolio for a certain period of time. Of course Access also acquired these patents from PalmSource, and now Apple wants to play with them too. Access made a similar deal with Microsoft in 2010, and they're definitely making profits from holding onto these patents. Note these are not non-practicing entities. As this article notes, patents can be very useful as well as expensive investments.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/10/apple-reaches-smartphone-patent-licensing-deal/

Week 12 Blog 23: Dude, Where's My Car?

Apple has recently taken interest in automotive-applications, filing a patent application about an iPhone with the capability of locating your parked car, wherever it may be. However, this technology is more than just an app for people who forget where they parked their cars at a shopping mall. Taking a closer look at this patent, this function requires a portable computing device, like an iPhone, and a server system within that parking structure in order to locate a vehicle. Most likely using Bluetooth wireless technology, in order to make this work it seems like the owners of parking structures will also have to implement this system.

Honestly, I always wondered why such technology has not occurred to app developers yet. I'm not sure if such technology exists already, but since some people can track where other people's phones are, tracking a car shouldn't be much harder. At least Apple is taking its approach to make it their own, and I definitely don't think this kind of technology will be limited to just cars. Pretty soon everything in our lives will be able to be controlled at the palm of our hands.

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2013/04/apple-reveals-an-advanced-indoor-mobile-location-application-for-finding-a-vehicle-in-a-parking-structure.html