Friday, May 23, 2014

(BN) Google, UNLV, Geller, David Bowie: Intellectual Property

(Bloomberg ) A future version of the Google Inc. (GOOG)'s wearable Glass device will look a lot more like conventional eyeglasses, according to diagrams accompanying a patent issued to the Mountain View, California-based search engine company.

Patent 8,705,177, issued in April, covers what Google called an "Integrated near-to-eye display module."

This device features two cube-shaped display modules mounted on glass frames at the top center of each lens. They project images directly into the user's eye.

Google says the modules provide computer-generated images with lower power consumption, lighter weight, reduced cost and greater ease of manufacturing than conventional head-mounted displays.

The company applied for the patent in December 2011.

Student Inventors Hope to Patent Casino Games Developed in Class

Students enrolled in a gaming innovation class at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas are filing patent applications for some of the casino games they invented in the course, the Associated Press reported.

The class was offered for the first time last autumn. More than a dozen student inventions are working their way through the patent process, the news service reported.

One aim of the program is the sale of successful games to casino companies, according to AP.

Patent Office Seeks Dismissal of Disgruntled Inventor's Suit

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office asked a federal court in Nevada to dismiss a lawsuit brought by an inventor whose applications have been with the office for 35 years.

The patent office said in a May 12 filing that Gilbert P. Hyatt's claims "were not ripe." The inventor "has alleged agency inaction when he has in fact received action," according to court filings. The office also said the court doesn't have jurisdiction over the issues Hyatt raised.

The Nevada-based inventor sued Jan. 3 claiming the patent office "unreasonably delayed" final action on applications he filed in the 1970s. He asked the court to place a strict deadline on the office for decisions on the two applications.

"Several years ago the PTO apparently determined that it would refuse to grant Mr. Hyatt any further patents, irrespective of the merits of his patent applications," according to Hyatt, who has more than 70 issued patents.

In its filing, the patent office said Hyatt had known that it considered one of the applications abandoned in 1963 and he never filed appropriate documents to undo that abandonment and resume examination.

The office also said the appropriate forum for cases such as his is a federal district court in Virginia or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which specializes in patent matters.

The case is Hyatt v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 14-cv-00011, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada (Las Vegas).

Trademark

N.Y. Mosque Opponent Loses Appeal of Anti-Islam Trademark Denial

Pamela Geller, one of the leaders of a campaign to bar the construction of a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center, lost her appeal of a patent office ruling denying her registration of "Stop the Islamisation of America" as a trademark.

A federal appeals court said May 13 that it agreed with the patent office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that the phrase could not be registered because it was disparaging to Muslims.

In a posting on her "Atlas Shrugged" blog, Geller characterized the court's ruling as "ongoing evidence" of how "the courts bend over backward to kowtow and placate Muslim sensitivities."

The case is In re Geller, 2013-1412, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Washington).

Copyright

License for Astronaut's Cover of Bowie's 'Space Oddity' Expires

The license for a cover version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," which was performed in outer space and beamed back to earth by Canadian astronaut Christ Hadfield and seen by more than 22 million views on Google Inc.'s YouTube, expired May 13 and was to be taken down, the Washington Post reported.

Hadfield filmed it during his six months in the International Space Station last year and, after negotiations, received a one-year license for the song, according to the Post.

Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage

OSU Mum About Details of Contracts With Nationwide, Hat World

Elements of Ohio State University's contracts with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and Genesco Inc. (GCO)'s Hat World unit have been withheld from public release on the grounds that they are trade secrets, the school's student newspaper, the Lantern, reported.

This information, including signing royalties and guaranteed annual royalty, was redacted in contracts released to the Lantern under public-records requests.

These contracts are different from contracts the school has with Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and Nike Inc. (NKE) that disclose such information, the Lantern reported.

A school spokesman, Gary Lewis, told the newspaper that each contract is different and that each is reviewed for trade-secret exemptions before it is release to the public.

No comments: