Patent On Patent Trolling

Via Felix Salmon, here is the patent on patent trolling.

Methods for a first party to acquire and assert a patent property against a second party are disclosed. The methods include obtaining an equity interest in the patent property. The methods further include writing a claim within the scope of the patent property. The claim is written to cover a product of the second party where the product includes a secret aspect. The methods further include filing the claim with a patent office. The methods sometimes include offering a license of the patent property to the second party after the patent property issues as a patent with the claim. The methods sometimes include asserting infringement of the claim by the second party after the patent property issues as a patent with the claim. The methods sometimes include negotiating a cross-license with the second party based on the assertion of infringement of the claim, where under the cross-license the first party obtains a license to an intellectual property right from the second party. The methods sometime include attempting to obtain a monetary settlement from the second party based on the assertion of infringement of the claim. – link

Singapore Car Parks

I am in Singapore this week for business. Because of my limited access to the Internet, I will not be able to blog consistently.

We parked in one of the many car parks in the city today, and I noticed that the parking structure had a sensor above each spot. The sensor allows the car park to know what spots are open. Open spots have green LEDs. In addition, a board announces the number of open spots on each level.

I noticed this when I was in Europe too. It strikes me as odd that I have never seen this type of system in the US. There may be a few in the US that have this system, but it it isn’t that common.

Explaining Google Wave

I found this video through Zeb Dropkin’s blog. (Side-note: I went to high-school with Zeb.) Very simple explanation of what Google Wave is, and some of the benefits. No, I do not have any invites to give.