Lawmakers question patent complaint process at ITC
The U.S. Congress should limit the ability of patent holders that don't make products to file infringement complaints at the U.S. International Trade Commission because of a huge increase in cases there, representatives of some companies told lawmakers Tuesday.
Patent assertion entities (PAEs), companies that own patents but don't make products, are using the patent complaint process at the ITC to "coerce settlements" from other companies, said Russell Binns Jr., associate general counsel at networking vendor Avaya. In many cases, PAEs -- often called patent trolls -- don't want the ITC to use its power to bar the importation of infringing products, but instead, they want to use the ITC to drive settlements in corresponding court cases, he said.
Patent complaints are costing U.S. companies billions of dollars, Binns told the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee's intellectual property subcommittee. Read more...
Complaints about iPad Wi-Fi problems continue to climb
Complaints from owners of Apple's newest iPad that their device has trouble connecting to wireless networks continue to mount.
One Apple support thread on the subject has collected over 770 messages, and has been viewed more than 65,000 times, both very large numbers by the support forum's standards.
Apple started selling the third-generation iPad on March 16, and gripes about its wireless performance appeared almost immediately.
Most complaints have been filed by Wi-Fi model owners, but some have been posted by people with the more expensive 4G-enabled iPad. Read more...
Mozilla decision to drop Firefox version number sparks backlash
Mozilla's decision to strip the version number from Firefox's "About" dialog box has been greeted by a nearly unanimous thumbs down, according to a lengthy, and at times heated, debate on a company discussion list.
The pushback was the second in as many months against Mozilla, which found itself the center of a late-June controversy over its apparent lack of interest in enterprise customers.
Asa Dotzler, a director of Firefox, explained why Mozilla was dumping the version number.
"We're moving to a more Web-like convention where it's simply not important what version you're using as long as it's the latest version," said Dotzler on a thread in the mozilla.dev.usability discussion group on Sunday. "We have a goal to make version numbers irrelevant to our consumer audience." Read more...