Techdirt. Stories filed under "rejection" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "rejection"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 3 Apr 2013 13:11:58 PDT USPTO Issues Final Rejection Of Apple's Rubberbanding Patent, Which Were Among Those The Jury Said Samsung Infringed Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130402/18313822553/uspto-issues-final-rejection-apples-rubberbanding-patent-which-were-among-those-jury-said-samsung-infringed.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130402/18313822553/uspto-issues-final-rejection-apples-rubberbanding-patent-which-were-among-those-jury-said-samsung-infringed.shtml lead to changes in the patents (including rejecting key claims), moving forward before the USPTO has ruled is kind of silly. It's guaranteed to lead to bad rulings. The latest is that the USPTO has issued a "final" rejection of Apple's "rubberbanding" patent (US Patent 7,469,381), which was one of the patents at issue in the Samsung Apple patent fight, and which the jury said Samsung infringed. In fact, the specific claim (19) that Samsung was said to have infringed was rejected by the USPTO.

We had noted a non-final rejection last fall, and now the USPTO has reiterated that with a final rejection. Of course, even "final rejection" is a bit of a misnomer, since Apple can (and probably will) still appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Still, given the significant doubt over the quality of the patent, it seems crazy to assume that it was valid as part of the lawsuit.

Also, in the meantime, if we're going to grant massively powerful, technology-landscape-changing patents to companies, is it really so much to ask that the USPTO not get it wrong so damn often? The fact that, on second review, they suddenly realize "oops, that was a mistake!" seems like the kind of thing that we should be worried about, given just how much power there is in a single bad patent.

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]]> oops http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20130402/18313822553 Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:05:03 PST Here We Go Again: Apple's Pinch-To-Zoom Patent Rejected On Re-Exam Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121219/17584521445/here-we-go-again-apples-pinch-to-zoom-patent-rejected-re-exam.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121219/17584521445/here-we-go-again-apples-pinch-to-zoom-patent-rejected-re-exam.shtml vast majority of patents that are presented for a post-grant re-exam have some or all of their claims changed or rejected. That spells major trouble for anyone who believes that patents accurately tell the market what is allowed and what is not -- when the USPTO doesn't even seem to know itself. Even more troubling is when courts make rulings over patents while they're still being re-examined, as the ruling itself may depend on the validity of that patent. This has gone on for years. For example, in one of the most famous patent trolling cases, RIM paid out $612.5 million to NTP, even as the USPTO was in the process of rejecting those patents.

The latest news is that, upon re-exam, the Patent Office has now rejected all 21 claims in Apple's infamous "pinch to zoom" 7,844,915 patent. Apple and patent enthusiasts will rightly point out that this is just the first step in the process -- Apple still can and will appeal, and it's very likely that the Patent Office will eventually allow some (perhaps modified) form of the patent to live on. However, since that is one of the patents involved in the Apple/Samsung patent fight, at best this creates even more confusion, since no one knows what that patent will eventually look like. This makes the problem of defining the "boundaries" of what a patent covers even more ridiculous. We already know that so many patents are written broadly, and in a somewhat indecipherable manner, such that they can be applied broadly. But when the boundaries are also subject to the whim of whoever's desk it lands on, it suggests a real problem with the system. We shouldn't be handing out massive monopolies, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, based on the arbitrary judgment of some random patent examiner, when it appears that there is no objective standard at all, but rather a series of (historically bad) guesses. That's no way to build an innovative economy.

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]]> of-course-it-was http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20121219/17584521445 Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:37:02 PDT Apple's Google Voice Rejection Wakes Up A Dormant FCC; Investigation Begins Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090731/1748485734.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090731/1748485734.shtml compete with Apple. However, Apple's recent decision to reject Google's Voice application didn't just attract general public interest in Apple's policies, it appears to have awoken the latest crop of FCC bosses. Yes, the FCC has requested more info from Apple, AT&T and Google concerning Apple's rejection of the Google app. I wonder how the random Apple drone who made that decision is feeling right now?

Either way, this isn't good for anyone. The FCC's reasoning is that it:
"has a mission to foster a competitive wireless marketplace, protect and empower consumers, and promote innovation and investment."
That's actually a bit of a stretch on the FCC's actual mandate. And as ridiculous as I think Apple's actions are here, having the FCC get involved doesn't seem good for anyone either. The FCC shouldn't be involved in deciding what applications get put on phones. Apple's decision has angered a bunch of people, with some swearing off the iPhone because of it. In those cases, those people have other options and other phones to go to. The situation doesn't require the FCC to get involved. It should just require Apple coming to its senses and getting rid of its silly policy of outright rejections of apps it doesn't like.

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]]> whoops http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090731/1748485734 Fri, 1 Aug 2008 15:10:20 PDT JPEG Patent's Single Claim Rejected (And Smacked Down For Good Measure) Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080731/0337491852.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080731/0337491852.shtml wide range of opponents, including a patent system critic. The end result was a drawn out review process where all of the original claims were rejected, but a single new claim was added to the patent, which Niro insisted covered JPEGs on a website.

Earlier this year, the Patent Office agreed to re-examine that claim. On top of that, a judge overseeing one of the lawsuits involving the patent decided to put the suit on hold pending the outcome of the re-exam. Of course, the re-exam will take some time, but the initial re-exam came out recently and it does not look good for this patent:
The one remaining claim was rejected on 19 different grounds, and then the examiner went on for over 40 pages, explaining in great detail, why the claim (and, thus, the entire patent) were not valid. Kinda makes you wonder why it was approved in the first place, but that's a different discussion for a different day. This is, of course, just the initial re-exam. Niro gets to respond, but given the amount of detail that goes into rejecting a single claim, he's got quite an uphill battle.

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]]> a-good-first-step http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20080731/0337491852 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:29:00 PDT Patent Office Rejects Blackboard E-Learning Patent One Month After It Wins Lawsuit Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080331/001531701.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080331/001531701.shtml so many patent re-exams result in rejected claims. It would only make sense for judges to wait until the Patent Office has had a chance to review the patent. As if to highlight that, late last week, the USPTO rejected all claims on a rather infamous "e-learning" patent held by Blackboard Inc. This comes just slightly over a month after Blackboard won a lawsuit using that very patent. It was known during the trial that the Patent Office had agreed to review it, but apparently, the judge didn't want to wait.

Of course, Blackboard quickly came out with a statement saying this doesn't matter, it's already won the case, and it still expects an injunction to be issued preventing Desire2Learn from offering e-learning software. Blackboard is correct that this is just an initial rejection (meaning there are still responses and additional rounds to go), but it still seems rather weak to put out a statement saying that everyone should just ignore the rather significant questions the USPTO has just raised about the patent in question.

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