Google Asks USPTO To Reexamine Four Oracle Patents 122
An anonymous reader writes "Google leaves no stone unturned in its defense against Oracle's patent and copyright infringement allegations. eWEEK reports on the latest development: Google has asked the USPTO to reexamine four of the seven patents asserted by Oracle. Patent watcher and skeptic Florian Mueller believes 'the world would be a better place without those virtual machine patents,' which he considers excessively broad and not really technical inventions. He also reports on a Google letter to the court, asking for permission to file a motion to throw out Oracle's copyright infringement allegations as soon as possible, without further discovery."
This could be interesting... (Score:2, Interesting)
...because if any of the patents are found to be unenforceable, because of either prior art or obviousness, then Oracle's suit falls apart. Take a look at RE38,104 [google.com]. This appears to be prior art.
Interesting times lie ahead.
Disclaimer:
I am rooting for Google.
Re:Not going to happen. (Score:4, Interesting)
Why, yes, there has been changes to patent laws since then.
Several court rules, including a couple from SCOTUS have changed the rules. You might think these don't apply retroactively, but a review is not strictly a retroactive action. They would have to apply the current standards for any review.
Things like Prior Art, Obviousness, overly broad patents have all had reviews in the courts, as any google search will reveal.
Patents are challenged almost weekly, and a significant number of these are invalidated.
Re:Obvious things (Score:4, Interesting)
Much of the patented work on MP3 and related psycho-acoustic modeling technology were well predated by work on signal processing for cochlear implants. If the USPTO had vaguely qualified examiners with enough time ti actually examine the patents, they would have realized that.
Re:Obvious things (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree with you.
People getting software patents should publish their source code, and not get copyright on it. After 15 years it's public domain. A very good point.