12.29.07
Patent Humour, Baidu Adds Patent Search to Its Engine
The following 2-minute video contains many figures. These were extracted from real patent applications covering very silly inventions. We have covered such amusing things before.
Turning to the news, you might wish to know that Baidu has added patent search.
With its habit of throwing out random upgrades, Google’s always demonstrated a certain ability to surprise us. Now its Chinese competitor, Baidu, has achieved the same effect by launching a patent search service.
It comes to a nation that intends to have 10,000 more standards and where 90% of the new patents were called “garbage”.
Moving on, here are the obligatory patent settlements du jour:
1. Qwest Settles Patent Dispute with Ronald Katz Technology Licensing
Approximately 200 companies have already purchased licenses to use the patents in question, which cover a range of interactive services ranging from automated prescription refills to securities trading, and home shopping to teleconferencing.
2. Kodak settles patent suit with Matsushita
Eastman Kodak will receive royalties from Matsushita Electric Industrial through a settlement of a July patent infringement suit, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.
Such patent settlements have become quite routine, but they needn’t be. In many cases, patents don’t come under scrutiny; instead, they are honoured blindly. A pointless settlement might simply be cheaper than a trial. This beats the purpose of a patent system. █
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.