The Company That Wouldn't Settle: Newegg's Landmark Victory ...

Photo by Eric Schmuttenmaer

For some, the burgeoning business of filing patent lawsuits against online retailers became big business. In the ideal scenario, a defendant in a patent case would settle ? essentially paying ransom to a plaintiff in the hopes of avoiding costly, time-consuming, and potentially injurious litigation.?Katherine Wolanyk, a former attorney and founding member of Latham & Watkins??Venture & Technology practice group, co-founded a company called Soverain Software. On its face, Soverain claims to have developed a ?robust e-commerce system which supports multiple storefront/merchant configurations.? However, recently-revealed court records indicate that Soverain has never made a single sale.?According to some journalists, the seemingly-reputable business of ?online shopping carts,? the colloquial ?term for Soverain?s professed business, was really nothing more than a front for the highly-lucrative business of patent trolling.?In addition to Newegg, Soverain filed similar suits against companies like?Nordstrom?s, Macy?s, Home Depot, RadioShack, and Kohl?s for alleged inappropriate utilization of patents (including patents 5,715,314, 5,909,492, and 7,272,639). Essentially, these patents claim ownership of basic online checkout technology.

In 2011, Soverain won nearly $18 million in a verdict against Victoria?s Secret and Avon in the Eastern District of Texas.?In addition, these companies were ordered to pay a ?running royalty? to Soverain. However, this most recent verdict essentially wipes out these lucrative awards.

In its landmark January 22, 2012 decision the Federal Circuit held that the ?shopping cart? patents were ?rendered obvious,? and the previous judgments for infringement and damages were vacated.

In an interview with Arstechnica, Newegg?s Chief Legal Officer, Lee Cheng, attributes the site?s victory to Newegg CEO Fred Chang?s stalwart and principled opposition to purported ?patent trolls? like Soverain. In reaction to the methods and and routine practices of these ?patent trolls,? Cheng is recorded as unabashedly proclaiming, ?Screw them. Seriously, screw them. You can quote me on that.?

It would seem that companies like Newegg?companies that relentlessly fight in these types of costly cases as a matter of principle?are the last line of defense in an arguably underdeveloped or otherwise lacking area of intellectual property law. For many, this raises myriad ongoing questions concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of the US patent system. Generally speaking, there is a vast backlog of patents in the US and abroad, and some contend that the USPTO is tremendously understaffed and underfunded. As a result of this backlog, many maintain that unworthy patents make it through an insufficiently rigorous patent application process. It would seem as though Soverain?s previously successful patent cases demonstrate a seriously inequitable patent enforcement apparatus that allows parties with very little interest in the creation of the patented technology to gain windfall profits from these cases.

These cases raise questions about the very foundations of intellectual property protection domestically and globally, and many activist inventors, professionals, journalists, entrepreneurs, and academics are joining the groundswell that is becoming a plea for change.

?Colton Cline

Image Source

Source: http://www.jetlaw.org/?p=13887

rob dyrdek oberon donald driver donald driver robin thicke mariana trench transcendental meditation

Civil libertarians challenge Anchorage sidewalk-sitting ban

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Civil libertarians filed suit in Alaska on Thursday to challenge an Anchorage ban on sitting or lying on public sidewalks they said was enacted partly as a response to one man's prolonged protest outside City Hall.

The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, called the 2011 ordinance a violation of the right to free speech and peaceful assembly. The suit also targets a related ban on panhandling in downtown Anchorage.

Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Alaska, said both prohibitions chill traditional political activity, such as union pickets, as well as artistic expression.

"We don't want Alaskans to have to wonder, if they go out on the sidewalk to engage in fundraising or to engage in political speech, if they're going to be arrested or not," he said.

The exception to the sidewalk-sitting ban - for commercial activities such as street-food vending - is evidence of the law's flaws, Mittman said. Courts usually grant broader protections to political speech than to commercial activities, he said.

The suit was filed on behalf of a local street musician and performance artist, a 95-year-old peace activist, labor unions, an Alaska Libertarian Party leader and other politically active individuals.

"They wish, as part of their expressive conduct, to be able to sit and lay on the downtown sidewalks and to seek donations free from the threat of municipal sanction," says the complaint, which seeks an injunction to block the law.

Not represented as a plaintiff is the person whose actions inspired the ordinance, John Martin, who spent much of the past two years camping on a downtown street corner to protest what he said was Mayor Dan Sullivan's insensitivity to homeless people.

Martin's critics, who at times included the mayor, said he was creating a public nuisance and hazard to sidewalk traffic.

Anchorage Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler said he could not comment immediately on the claims made in the lawsuit. "We just got the copy. We haven't had a chance to analyze it," he said.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/civil-libertarians-challenge-anchorage-sidewalk-sitting-ban-041854024.html

Carlton Morgan Freeman Dead Stand Up to Cancer Azarenka NFL fantasy football Chris Kluwe Jennifer Granholm

Qualcomm ?Likes? Facebook, Apple, Google And Samsung

It's Super Bowl week so it?s time to talk about chips ? the ones that go in "smart" things, not the ones eaten by Americans. This week?s headlines have been dominated by Facebook. I hear they are quite big with the college kids. But, Qualcomm really is crushing it. They deserve a little attention. They are bigger than Facebook at $108 billion. Today, Qualcomm added approximately $5 billion to their market capitalization, thanks to a blowout quarter of sales ($6 billion) and profits ($2 billion).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ojzo2m2LbFE/

levon helm firelight world peace elbow kevin love think like a man world peace world peace lakers

Centsational Girl ? Blog Archive ? Painted French Doors

Sometimes I need to listen to my own advice.? I was crushing on colorful mullions and trim a few weeks ago and wishing I could go that route and they I smacked my head and realized I could so add color to my house if I just painted my interior French doors.? So I did.

They?ve been white for five years and I decided to have some fun ? I chose a medium shade of teal blue by Glidden called ?Still Waters? and it gives the entry and the living room a dose of fresh color.

?

Painting divided light French doors isn?t difficult, you can even paint them in place, you just need these supplies.? A tarp, a foam roller, deglosser, an angled paintbrush, a utility knife or box cutter, a razor blade scraper and painter?s tray (not shown),? painter?s tape, rubber gloves, and a screwdriver or drill.?

?

I tape off doorknobs and loosen but don?t remove door hardware, then I tape around the loosened pieces, then tape off the hinges too.?

?

I don?t tape off glass because it takes too much time and since you can scrape latex paint right off the glass at the end, I don?t bother.? But first, degloss your door with a sander/deglosser product.?

If your door is painted with oil based paint and you?re painting over it with latex, you?ll have to prime first.? If the underlying paint is already latex, you can go right over it with more latex but deglossing will help your new paint adhere to the layer underneath.? I rub it on with an old towel or rag.

Wear gloves and follow the instructions on the label.

?

When the deglosser has done its job, I apply paint first with a foam roller for even coverage then I follow it up with a high quality brush and paint all the muntins (a reader shared the difference between mullions and muntins with me, you can read the article here.)?

?

Paint one side of the door at a time and watch for drips ? paint right onto the glass since you?ll scrape it off later.? I always do two coats, but if you?re going with a dark color, you may need three.

?

I don?t tape off glass because latex paint peels right off of it and even if I took the time to tape off, there would still be bits of paint on the glass so I skip that and just plan on removing it all in the end.? Here?s how.? Score it with a sharp blade from a box cutter or utility knife.

?

Next use a razor blade to scrape the paint off the glass.

?

*A word of caution: the proper tool for this kind of scraping is a razor blade scraper.? I couldn?t find mine but it?s much safer to use one of these and not hold a razor blade in your fingers!? So ignore my example and use the right tool ? they?re pretty cheap at your local home improvement store.

?

Once you score the edges and scrape it with a razor blade you can easily peel it right off the window.?

?

**But here?s a tip:? with this ?no tape? method, wait one full day for your paint to dry because when you peel it off you get long strips and small flakes and if your door is still wet those flakes will stick to the door as they fall off ? very frustrating.? If you wait until your paint is dry before you score, scrape, and peel this stuff you won?t have that problem.

We have two sets of doors so I painted both sets ? the new color plays well with the blue accessories scattered throughout the rest of the living room.

?

The thing I love about paint is? it?s just paint!? If I ever want to make them white again or a different color, it?s an easy change.

?

Painting your interior doors is a great way to inject your home with more color with just a few supplies.? If you have any pictures of doors you?ve painted, send them my way, I?d love to see your results!

?

.

Tags: how to paint french doors, painted french doors

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2013 at and is filed under DIY, My Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2013/01/painted-french-doors/

bagpipes aspirin aspirin 21 jump street illinois primary results acapulco mexico hines ward

India @ 9 with Rajdeep Sardesai

CNN name, logo and all associated elements ? and ? 2013 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. CNN and the CNN logo are registered marks of Cable News Network, LP LLLP, displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/369871/india--9-with-rajdeep-sardesai.html

extenze tenacious d steve smith zou bisou bisou tim tebow press conference tebow press conference trina

Asteroid mining: Second company announces plans. Time to stake a claim? (+video)

Deep Space Industries said Tuesday it plans to launch small prospector missions to asteroids beginning in 2015. The goal of asteroid mining is to make space exploration more affordable.

By Peter Spotts,?Staff writer / January 22, 2013

Meteorites sit on a display table at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, Calif., Jan. 22, where Deep Space Industries announced plans for the world's first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft

Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters

Enlarge

Asteroids aren't just for dodging anymore. Less than a year after a company called Planetary Resources announced plans to survey, then mine, asteroids, a second company has set out its plans to turn orbiting piles of cosmic rubble into rocket fuel, solar panels, and trusses for spacecraft hundreds to thousands of miles above Earth.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

Suddenly asteroid mining has the potential of becoming a competitive field.

The ultimate goal is to make space exploration and development more affordable by obtaining fuel and construction material from easy-to-reach sources that flit past Earth all the time, rather than the costlier method of hauling everything up from Earth.

As a start, representatives of Deep Space Industries (DSI) on Tuesday outlined the company's plans to launch small prospector missions to asteroids beginning in 2015. A year later, the firm plans to launch its first sample-return mission, which aims to bring back samples of an asteroid not by the cupful, but in 60- to 150-pound quantities.

Such amounts not only would present a bonanza for the research community. They also would provide pristine test material for mining, refining, and manufacturing techniques the company is developing for use in space.

To company chairman Rick Tumlinson, DSI's ultimate goals represent a logical next step beyond government-sponsored exploration programs. He drew an analogy between NASA's human-spaceflight program and the Lewis and Clark Expedition under Thomas Jefferson, which was followed by a westward flow of settlers.

"We are the settlers and shopkeepers" heading into this latest frontier, he added.

Over the past 32 years, astronomers have discovered about 9,000 near-Earth asteroids, largely with the goal of assessing the risk of a collision with Earth. But among those 9,000, about 1,700 require only about as much energy to reach as a trip to the moon ? an alluring prospect for cosmic prospectors interested in exploiting the asteroids' resource potential.

For all the various elements asteroids may provide ? from platinum to iron and silicon ? perhaps the most immediately valuable resource they carry is water ice, which can be used to make rocket fuel.

Therein lies the early money, according to officials with DSI and with Planetary Resources.

One early market, DSI officials say, could well be communications satellites. These run out of fuel long before their hardware fails. Although in principle these satellites could be refueled, sending that fuel from Earth is prohibitively expensive. So, before their tanks run dry, they must be sent to graveyard orbits where they won't collide with other satellites and become space junk. Fuel manufactured in space from water ice liberated from asteroids, however, could extend the operating life of a satellite.

Each month of additional service is worth another $5 million to $8 million to a communications-satellite operator, notes David Gump, DSI's chief executive officer.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/yrGdeFeQ544/Asteroid-mining-Second-company-announces-plans.-Time-to-stake-a-claim-video

marlins marlins facebook buys instagram kevin systrom fibonacci sequence maryland lottery grand jury

Video: Immigration reform: is now the time?

>>> challenge where the differences are dwindling. where a broad consensus is emerging. and where a call for action can now be heard coming from all across america. now's the time.

>> welcome back to "hardball." that was president obama in las vegas yesterday where he laid out his vision for immigration reform . the president's approach is very similar to what a bipartisan group of eight senators called for earlier this week. now the question is can something get done? will republicans in the house be willing to vote yes on a bill that includes a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are in this country illegally? that could be a hard sell . many republicans say president obama is all too happy to let the issue fester and watch as their party continues to struggle with hispanic voters. however, politico's mike allen says that doesn't pass the political smell test. quote kwb this is one of the few political mysteries that has an unambiguously correct answer. top demes tell us if president obama is going to have a big legacy accomplishment this term, it has to be immigration. so he's making an historic test of whether the campaign machinery can translate to governing. joining us is howard fineman and nia- malika henderson. nia- malika , let me begin with you. what's your answer to the question of the president's true objective here?

>> well, i think his true objective has been what it always was. even going back to 2008 when he campaigned on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform . obviously wasn't able to get it done in his first term. gave a bunch of speeches that essentially laid out the same thing he laid out yesterday, the sort of guiding framework where he wants to take this. i think it always has been an issue for republicans . he doesn't necessarily have to make it an issue for them. he certainly isn't standing for re-election. i think he already won the political fight in 2012 . so now it is about his legacy and whether or not he can get this big grand bargain around immigration.

>> howard, how do we get beyond the triggers that differs between the senate's plan and the president's plan? how do you prove the borders are now secure?

>> right. that's the practical difficulty in all this. and it's one thing to go out and say let's do it when we secure the border. the question is how you measure it, how you achieve that. do you put troops down there? do you have drones flying overhead? what statistics will you use and so forth? but the larger issue is the sequence. when it's clear that people are going to be on that path to citizenship that the president discussed. only after some kind of security is enforced and proved or not? and that's where the sticking point's going to be. but i agree with nia and mike allen . that this is part of the president's narrative. this makes sense for the president. this is a president who comes in a sense from immigrant stock himself. who sees himself carrying america into a new demographic and a new day. who's always reading lincoln. who's giving his state of the union address on abraham lincoln 's birthday. i think for the president to have a new birth of freedom in terms of settling this immigration issue for this generation, it always comes up, but again for this generation i think something he very much cares about.

>> let's talk about the other side of the aisle. senator john mccain one of the gang of eight's plan, says he republican party risks a descent towards irrelevancy. today he explained what's at stake for the republican party .

>> the republican party has failed to understand to a significant degree the importance of this issue to our hispanic voter. we are elected to office because the voters think we will help them achieve their hopes and dreams and aspirations for the future. if you have a large block of americans who believe that you are trying to keep their brethren and sisterhood down, their fellow hispanics down, and deprive them of an opportunity, obviously that's going to have an effect on their voters.

>> number of republicans have taken issue with that mode of thinking by way of example, here's what lou barr let ta of pennsylvania said. quote, i hope politics is not at the root of why we're rushing to pass a bill. anyone who believes they're going to win over the latino vote is grossly mistaken. the majority that are here illegally are low skilled or may not even have a high school diploma . the republican party is not going to compete over who can give more social programs out. they will become democrats because of the social programs they'll depend on. and a republican senate aide told the national review that republicans should take a deep breath on this issue. quote, don't walk the plank on immigration because romney only got 29% of the hispanic vote and sell out on deeply held conservatives principles to bump up to 33%. i'm surprised by those particularly by barr let ta.

>> that's right. some of the language there used, there has been this attempt by some republicans to change the rhetoric, change the language they use around immigration. not wanting this to be an issue going forward. but i think realistically when you look at what's happening on the house side, they really only need 20 or so republicans to back this bill for it to get through the house. you saw of course with the fiscal cliff they were able to get enough republicans to agree to raising taxes. i think one of the things that you're seeing is there is this change. i think it's happened much more quickly than a lot of people thought it would. mccain reverting back to the old mccain . lindsey graham who is facing probably a primary test down in south carolina , a state that is now 5% latino . one of the fastest-growing states in the terms of latino population down there. so i think we're going to see the sort of blood letting on the republican party along all of these issues, but i think at the end of the day mccain speaks for a majority of republicans who are looking at a way to reform their party and looking at these changing demographics.

>> howard, the stakes are high for one republican in particular. senator marco rubio has been front and center on rush limbaugh 's radio program making the case for immigration reform . while limbaugh praised him, he's also met his share of critics. see what david vitter told laura ingrham today.

>> i love marco but i think he's amazingly naive on this issue. this is the same old formula we've dealt with before including when it passed in 1986 . that is promises of enforcement and immediate amnesty. and of course the promises of enforcement never materialize, the amnesty happens immediately.

>> rick perry and newt gingrich both got stung when in the primary process they stepped out of the gop rank and file on this issue. could it happen to marco rubio ?

>> it could. but this is how he will define himself as a national figure. there's no doubt that marco rubio is running for president in 2016 . he's going to think that he's going to try and bring the republican party along with him if he can. did he get out there maybe a little too visibly and a little too enthusiastically on day one with the gang of eight? perhaps. but i think he's thinking he's going to make a big national play. and he's going to work from the outside in. he's going to be the conservative who can appeal to the hard working , intense people at the grassroots in iowa, south carolina , et cetera . but also give them the sort of ronald reagan promise of being able to reach back to the middle. that's the argument rubio will make. is that naive? on one level, perhaps. but it also may be shrewd.

>> howard fine man, thank you. thank you for being shrewd. nia- malika henderson as well.

>>> up next, before hillary clinton steps down as secretary of state, we thought we'd look back at her lighter moments. and if you want to follow me on twitter, hopefully you know the rules. you just need to spell smerconish. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ man ]

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50644769/

kim kardashian flour bomb hunger games box office xavier joan crawford joan crawford john goodman kendall marshall