Forgent Patent Settlement: Foreshadowing for Geo?

I’ve been keeping an eye out for information on the REAL vs. Diane Sarkisian case (broadly, REAL has a patent on a process to find real estate on a map and sued an agent who used software that did that).

Today TechDirt provides an update on the Forgent JPG patent suits which look to me to have some parallels at least in how the company with the patent is trolling for money. If you missed it, some years ago Forgent, a tiny company, acquired some intellectual property including some that they thought retroactively was in the JPG image format. They went on a spree telling folks to pay up to license the technology. They hoped to get a ton of money, but recently settled all outstanding claims for $8 million. Over the course of the hunt they took in more than $100 million. That’s a lot of money, says Mike at TechDirt, for doing no innovation. The case is still in progress and who knows, might be upheld.

Bear this in mind as you watch the REAL case unfold.

TomTom and Garmin Sue Some More

This time it’s TomTom suing Garmin over taking its “look and feel.” Last time it was Garmin asserting that TomTom infringed on patents regarding which streets to show on the handheld device.

via The Register

IBM to Put Patent Apps Online

As we keep an eye on geo patents here, this is pretty interesting. IBM will put its patent apps online for all to review (New York Times, free registration). The hope is that in time other organizations will do the same, even as there are moves to revamp the U.S. petent process. The policy is more that just a “put it out there” statement. It has more:

The policy, being announced today, includes standards like clearly identifying the corporate ownership of patents, to avoid filings that cloak authorship under the name of an individual or dummy company. It also asserts that so-called business methods alone — broad descriptions of ideas, without technical specifics — should not be patentable.

Sounds good to me! Now, let’s get real: we, and others who care, need to be diligent about keeping an eye on these filings. Otherwise we may end up with patents on Web mapping, using maps to find selected real estate, moving GPS data to GIS… oh, right those patents already exist! (wink, wink)

Patent for Sweeping Local Area for Info

Earthcomber was awarded a patent “for a location-based search system that allows individuals to constantly sweep their surroundings for their personal interests.” (press release)

The full patent is here. (USPTO)

Korean GIS Patents

For those keeping an eye on US geo patents, here’s information on what’s going on in Korea.

Hanjin Information Communication of Korea now has ten patents on inventions directly (and indirectly) related to geospatial applications.

They are related to:

processing both black-and-white and color film at the same time

‘aviation laser measuring data-based ground level extraction’ technology

‘user name dictionary-based electronic mapping’ technology used to manage and search a variety of additional information effectively

Korea Space Information Communication received a patent on a ‘GIS-enabled voting management system,’ and filed for 20 others. Two other companies are noted that have or will have patents on voice related geo and 3D data creation.