Asempra granted IT continuity patent

Asempra Technologies, a provider of instantaneous application and data availability solutions for Windows-based environments, has been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for technology advances that enable application-aware and file-based real-time continuous data protection. Asempra was awarded US Patent No. 7,096,392 for ‘a method and system for automated, no downtime, real-time, continuous data protection.’
Asempra's next-generation file aware continuous data protection technology provides guaranteed application and data availability for Windows environments.
Using ‘Virtual On-Demand Recovery’ technology, an application's data is available for use within minutes, even seconds, of recovery. The data recovered is guaranteed to be completely usable on the first recovery.

Vonage ordered to pay $58 million in patent case

Vonage Holdings Corp. must pay $58 million plus monthly royalties to Verizon Communications Inc. for infringing three patents on Internet-telephone service, a federal jury ruled.
Vonage shares fell to a record low.
Verizon asked for a court order banning Vonage's use of the technology following today's verdict in Alexandria, Virginia. The order would cripple Vonage by allowing it to handle only calls between the company's customers, Verizon lawyer Peter McCabe said.
A hearing was set for March 23.
"This is a big negative surprise" for Vonage, said Clayton Moran, an analyst with Stanford Group in Boca Raton, Florida, who rates the shares "hold" and doesn't own them. "It makes it more difficult for an already challenged business to get to profitability."
New York-based Verizon, the second-largest U.S.

The UK Intellectual Property Office is born

The UK Patent Office has announced that it plans to change its name to the UK Intellectual Property Office, in line with the recommendation of the Government's Gowers Review of Intellectual Property.
The new name is designed to reflect the Office's wider role, encompassing copyright and trademarks as well as patents.
'The [Gowers] report's main recommendations will help us to enforce intellectual property rights, and support British businesses both at home and abroad,' said Ron Marchant, the Office's chief executive.
The Gowers Review, set up by Chancellor Gordon Brown and chaired by former Financial Times journalist Andrew Gowers had considered whether to recommend the setting up of a separate copyright office, but instead concluded that all intellectual property issues should be overseen by a single organisation.