12.13.07
European Patent Convention Overhaul Arrives a Decade Too Late, Fox Watches Henhouse
The Register has parsed through a new item from the European Patent Convention. Here are some of the details.
The revised European Patent Convention (EPC) finally came into effect today – nearly a decade after it was first agreed that an overhaul of the system was needed.
Many amendments can now be adopted by the Organisation’s Administrative Council itself, without the need for the member states to hold a full diplomatic conference
There are already some early voices if criticism. The countries involved will have little or no role in the decisions made, so the system might remain open to abuse. See this:
Many amendments can now be adopted by the Organisation’s Administrative Council itself, without the need for the member states to hold a full diplomatic conference…
Speaking of tactless abuse, how about this possible case of abuse from the news?
MercExchange holds patents relating to internet auctions, and on Tuesday a court in Virginia found eBay had infringed some of its patents. The company was awarded $30m from eBay.
There are also patents on basic ideas like online shopping, not to mention Amazon’s one-click shopping and other junk patents. █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.