Today in 1840: Morse Code patent issued
Wired.com reports that today is the anniversary of the 1840 patent for Morse Code:
Morse code has now been in use for more than 160 years. It still has practical applications in the modern world because almost anything can be used, from telegraph key to flashlight to pencil to fingertip, to tap out or flash a message. Severely disabled people even use Morse to communicate, sending out the code by eye movement or puffing and blowing.
For an excellent read on the history of the telegraph and its parallels to the internet, see The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage.
Here’s Morse’s patent, issued 168 years ago today:
BOGO day for patents at the Supreme Court
SCOTUSblog reports that the Supreme Court today issued decisions in two high-profile patent cases. According to SCOTUSblog, Microsoft won (7-1) in Microsoft v. AT&T, and in KSR v. Teleflex, a unanimous Court ruled that the Federal Circuit had applied too narrow a standard for determining “obviousness.”
Note: BOGO means “buy one, get one free.”
Simpsons - Star Trek mash-up
IP Profs: here’s some music to blog, prepare for IP class, or simply recover from the holidays by.
IP Students: discuss (or just hum along).
The video’s creator, Culture Killer, can be found here and here.
Supreme Court grants cert in KSR v. Teleflex
Out with the old and in with the new.
Although Labcorp v. Metabolite was dismissed last week, in this morning’s order list, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in KSR v. Teleflex (No. 04-1350, docket here). Previous commentary at Patently-O. The issue is the obviousness test used by the Federal Circuit in patent cases. This promises to be a major case.
LabCorp v. Metabolite dismissed
The Supreme Court issued a decision this morning dismissing the writ of certiorari in Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc. as improvidently granted. Justice Breyer, joined by Justices Stevens and Souter, dissented from the dismissal.
Decision here. Discussion at Patently-O here.
Microsoft and Creative Commons
Brett Frischmann reports at Madisonian.net that Creative Commons and Microsoft are releasing a copyright licensing tool to enable the “easy addition of Creative Commons licensing information for works in popular Microsoft® Office applications.” That’s great news and a big development — the ease of inserting a license should get the public thinking more about the benefits of clarity in copyright law, and encourage broader licensing of many works, such as currently occurs widely at Flickr.com.
Michael Carroll reports at Carrollogos that the plugin for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel applications is now available here. Hopefully this tool will be included as a standard part of the upcoming release of Office 2007.
-
A blog on IP, information, and technology by Professor Ira Nathenson, St. Thomas Univ. School of Law. Nothing on this site is intended as legal advice.
-