The telecommunication and information industries: US patent policy and the criterion of non-obviousness

In this topic discussion paper, the legal and public policy issues surrounding the “novel” and “non-obvious” criterion that the US Patent and Trademark Office uses in awarding a patent are explored. The application of the latter criteria for granting a patent – that the invention be “non-obvious” – has been a significant concern for many firms in the telecommunications and information industries. Following an introduction discussing the Constitutional basis of intellectual property rights and the criteria employed by the US Patent and Trademark Office in awarding patent rights, this paper will explain the modern evolution of the legal expression “non-obviousness”, up to, and including, the most recent patent appeals case (and potentially the one having the most far-reaching impact on patent granting) heard by the US Supreme Court, KSR International Co. v. Teleflex. Inc. et al. In the next section, a review of three major national policy reports on reforming the US patent system (two national reports and one by an academic economist) – focusing on the expert recommendations pertaining to the implementation of the legal expression of “non-obviousness” – is undertaken. Lastly, the final section of the paper offers a patent policy discussion associated with the latest interpretation of the “non-obviousness” criterion, and explains possible policy effects on the competitive environment of the telecommunications and information industries.     

Tech troubles for Bush [technology policy]

This paper discusses the various concerns in the electric power industry that the Bush administration need to address following his re-election in 2004. These concerns include filling in the key positions in government where critical decisions about electric power will be made such as the directorship of the US Department of Energy's Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution. The Bush administration also needs to help the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to recover its lost authority and the Department of Homeland Security in meeting the challenges of cybervandalism and crime.     

The Foreign Patent Money Trap [Resources: Invention]

Reports on issues relating to patents filed in the U.S. and the legal problems associated with both domestic and international law.     

Anatomy of a spectrum policy court decision [spectrum policy and regulatory issues]

This month?s column reviews a recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision that considered a pectrum policy matter that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had decided. This matter should be of interest to readers because it shows how a transparent regulatory system works with a system of checks and balances. Also, many members of this multinational society either work in the United States or develop products for sale in the U.S. market, and thus their work is affected by such decisions.     

Year of the patent [intellectual property protection, China]

Protecting intellectual property isn't China's strong suit, but the country is trying to tailor its IP laws to assuage foreign companies. How far the country goes in establishing an enforceable intellectual property (IP) regime will affect the nation's economic fortunes, and also will likely determine its ability to make technology a component of its future growth. Without the ability to protect innovations systematically and to use those protections to stake out markets and combat piracy, no firm can hope to compete profitably. Savvy technology companies refuse to play in countries where the deck is stacked. To satisfy WTO standards and address international criticism, China amended its patent laws in July 2001 so that even offers to sell a pirated product (in addition to actual sales) constitute acts of infringement. The new laws allow judicial appeal of adverse decisions in reexamination and invalidation procedures; permit preliminary injunctions before infringement actions are even heard; and make compulsory licensing-that is, forcing a patent owner to license the technology to others-more difficult. But what remains to be seen is how these changes affect matters "on the ground"-whether what looks good on paper actually heralds a new willingness to protect IP rights.     

Restructuring the thin-stretched [US electricity supply industry]

The author describes how the US electricity industry is being reorganized to allow for power to be traded freely. The general idea is for electricity to be sold by independent suppliers into grids managed by authorities independent (more or less) of commercial interests. In this paper, they detail how the most obviously pressing question is whether the emergent independent grid organizations have adequate authority to guarantee reliable delivery of power     

US telecommunications policy: directions for the next five years

The author highlights the intricacy and the importance of US telecommunications policy. He describes the telecommunications infrastructure, and discusses regulatory issues. He examines the impact of public policy on foreign trade     

Staying in the big league [high-tech industries-EC policy]

The concept of industrial policy, as laid down in the Maastrict Treaty, is to provide the necessary framework to keep the Community's industry competitive. A lot of questions arise out of this, most particularly: What can the European Commission do to help high-tech industries? The author explains the philosophy of the European Commission's support for high-tech industries (IT and electronics industries). The author defines competitiveness and why being competitive is so important     

The radical who shaped the future [Alec Reeves]

2002 is the centenary of the birth of Alec Reeves. The author describes the achievements of a remarkable engineer and an uncommon man. Reeves devised the technology on which the information age depends. A committed pacifist, he developed a top secret bombing system that altered the course-and perhaps the outcome-of the Second World War. A prolific and practical inventor, he experimented with psychokinesis and acknowledged the possibility of the paranormal. In 1937 he formulated the principles of pulse-code modulation-laying the foundations for all of today's digital and multimedia technologies. During WWII he helped develop a technique using radio techniques for guiding bombers to their targets and when the bombs should be released. This system was known as Oboe. Following the war he worked on increasing the capacity and reliability of communication systems. His fascination with the human brain, its operation and capacity led him to study psychokinesis and telepathy     

Spin-out policy has a dizzy turn [spin-out company valuation tax]

This article first outlines the current situation with respect to the valuation tax on university spin-out company formation. It then announces that academics have persuaded the government to reconsider tax changes that they say could stifle the commercial exploitation of UK research.     

Festo, schmesto! [patent law and the doctrine of equivalents]

Does a recent US Supreme Court decision in the case of Festo Corp. versus Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., Ltd., expand or limit the rights of patent holders to sue copycats? This article discusses the "doctrine of equivalents," which allows the patent holder to expand a patent beyond its literal terms to cover subject matter it doesn't expressly mention. At its heart are two premises: first, it is difficult to capture the full scope of technical innovation in words; and second, some people are wiseguys. No matter how carefully a patent claim is worded, no matter how well it appears to cover an invention, there will always be those who will search eagerly for the loophole, a way to circumvent language and avoid infringement. Patent law rewards innovation with exclusivity for a limited time period. But the reason patents are printed and published is to encourage still further innovation. The problem arises when someone slyly avoids a patent's language without contributing anything new-in effect, appropriating the benefits of an invention without enriching the art. Ultimately, the doctrine of equivalents plays a marginal role in patent law. That's because reasonably well-written patent claims are not, in the main, easy to avoid if the benefits of the invention are to be retained. Courts apply the doctrine to catch the occasional wiseguy while defending the certainty patent claims are supposed to provide. The Supreme Courts latest adjustment notwithstanding, that role is likely to continue     

Combined linear and homomorphic deconvolutions for processingbandpass measurements [US flaw detection]

The deconvolution presented is a combination of available techniques. It is effective for extracting the impulse response of individual flaws from ultrasonic data generated by flaw clusters. The technique requires output signals from both the flawed and unflawed systems. By combining linear deconvolution and homomorphic deconvolution, using the complex cepstrum, the desired impulse response can be extracted in cases where the signals contain overlapping wavelets. For the important case of bandpass signals, for which the complex cepstrum does not exist, the technique can still be applied by including a bandpass mapping in conjunction with homomorphic processing. Application of this combined approach to ultrasonic signals reflected from epoxy specimens produced the impulse response of a single cavity from measurements which were bandpass and contained overlapping signals from adjacent cavities. The recovered response, which compared well with the theoretical response of a single cavity, was sufficiently resolved to yield the radius of the spherical cavity     

Open standards: a call for change - [ITU-T kaleidoscope]

Digital communication is both pervasive and vital across society. This creates a growing public interest in the technical standards that proscribe public communications. The public is demanding open standards. The rallying cry "Open Standards" means different things to different groups. This article reviews the different needs of specific groups of society and develops ten different requirements for open standards. To implement these requirements, changes to the rules and procedures of standardization organizations, international bodies (e.g., WIPO, WTO), and national patent office rules are proposed. Interestingly, technical changes, in the form of new standardized protocols, rather than legal or policy changes, appear to be the most important changes to meet the requirements of open standards."Standards function as feathers that guide the arrow of technology. While feathers are light and seemingly trivial on an arrow's shaft, without feathers, few arrows find their mark. Without standards, few technologies find their market"     

Quality after the scale: a marketing tool [telecommunicationproducts]

Reviews how vendors of electronic telecommunications products can modify the quality factors associated with service after the sale to increase or decrease perceived values. The author makes the following points: reliability is the key measurement of quality for high-technology products; customers are willing to pay more for reliable (i.e. better quality) products; resolving design and manufacturing deficiencies after the sale is the most costly way to address product problems; and almost all products require service, and customers will pay more for prompt and effective service, so that quality after the sale can be a marketing tool     

Get a life: thinking outside the box [multimedia]

Like a good classic novel or a cutting political debate, multimedia content should and can generate rich interpersonal exchanges. The paper considers a language learning application which tells a story of the Berlin through the eyes and dialogs of six Berliners who meet as part of the production     

Back to the future: a perspective [defense spending]

The impact of declines in defense spending on industry is considered. Cutbacks following World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars are examined in an attempt to assess what the effect would be if the current reduction in defense budget growth proves to be another decline rather than a plateau     

WAPECS - Europe moves toward technical flexibility for wireless systems [spectrum policy and regulatory issues]

European spectrum management has a reputation for being much more conservative than the policies of the Federal Communications Commission in the United States and its counterparts in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Part of this comes from the demands of geography: Europe is full of tightly packed international boundaries and population centers close to international borders, making multinational cooperation essential in spectrum management. But, as this paper describes below, there are changes under deliberation in Europe that could open the door for technical innovation and flexibility just as spectrum uses are converging.     

The fast multipole method for the wave equation: a pedestrian prescription

A practical and complete, but not rigorous, exposition of the fact multiple method (FMM) is provided. The FMM provides an efficient mechanism for the numerical convolution of the Green's function for the Helmholtz equation with a source distribution and can be used to radically accelerate the iterative solution of boundary-integral equations. In the simple single-stage form presented here, it reduces the computational complexity of the convolution from O(N ²) to O(N^3/2), where N is the dimensionality of the problem's discretization