Patent News & Articles

CrowdEngineering has put a patent on crowdsourcing. As you may remember, CrowdEngineering provides a platform designed to fully integrate existing processes and applications with the benefits of technical crowdsourcing. This week they put a ring on it, so to speak, by securing a patent that covers its core technology for enterprise crowdsourcing, the foundation of its flagship CrowdForce platform.

When Google (news, site) announced its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, industry watchers wondered about the potential effects on the mobile industry. In particular, Google will, in effect, be competing against its own Android smartphone and tablet licensees. But the market seems to agree that the deal will benefit Android stakeholders, particularly in the Asian region.

Congratulations are in order. Clearwell Systems (news, site) has been awarded US Patent No. 7,593,995.

For those of us who are not patent examiners, US Patent No. 7,593,995 refers to “methods and systems of electronic message threading and ranking.”

Google, a long time Linux user and supporter, is giving back to the open source operating system that has helped it reach its remarkable status by becoming Open Invention Network’s (OIN) first end-user licensee. OIN is an intellectual property company set up in 2005 for the purpose of acquiring and pooling patents to create a legal safe zone, or ecosystem, for those who work with Linux.

Bullies can only survive so long — and like some Marxist fantasia, particularly debauched, abusive bullies are known for awakening the revolutionary ire of those who, en masse, could easily spell tyranny’s downfall.

The context is set. Now for the major players. The diverse and ever-growing Linux community, newly united as The Linux Foundation, may be preparing an assault against longtime ruler Microsoft that is expected to sting - if not immediately, then with time.

In a mad dash to keep its bases covered in the volatile OSS and virtualization frontiers, Microsoft has developed a cross-license patent agreement with LG Electronics. The announcement comes just days after it released news of a similar agreement with Xandros.