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litigation

$30.4 billion, not $11.4 billion, in software patent damage to the economy

End Software Patents earlier claimed that the US economy suffers an $11 billion hit each year due to needless software patents. It turns out that End Software Patents was wrong.

The number is actually $30.4 billion.

What's $20 billion between friends? The group revised upward its earlier, more conservative estimates based on the following [PDF]:

The U.S. Courts reported 2,830 patent lawsuits (of all kinds) filed in FY2006. Bessen and Meurer estimate that as of 2002, 25% of patent infringement suits are over software; all signs indicate that the current number is much higher, but we … Read more

Patent Office board to revisit Microsoft-Eolas spat

In a move that could shape an upcoming retrial, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed once again to revisit Web browser plug-in patents at the heart of a dispute between Microsoft and University of California spinoff Eolas Technologies.

Microsoft associate general counsel Andy Culbert told CNET News.com in a telephone interview on Friday that the Patent Office agreed last week to undertake what is known as an interference proceeding.

An interference proceeding occurs when the Patent Office has determined that two separate patent holders hold patents covering the same subject matter. A five-judge panel within the … Read more