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.

US Senators pressure Canada on copyright laws

Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Joseph Harper, has received a letter from US senators Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn, drawing attention to the issues of copyright protection efforts in Canada. The letter brings up the issue of people recording copies of motion pictures in theaters in Canada, which reportedly accounts for a large number of pirate movies available worldwide "We are writing to call your attention to the explosive growth of pirating of movies from theatres through the use of hand-recorders known as 'camcorders.' The theft and sale of newly-released movies has always been a serious threat to the motion picture industry. Now, the advancements of digital technology and improved camcorder capabilities have compounded the problem." the letter states. The letter goes on with details about laws that are currently enforced in the United States that criminalize the unauthorized recording of movies in theaters using camcorder equipment.

3M causes havoc with battery patent

BITS AND BOBS manufacturer, 3M, has suddenly noticed it holds patents on lithium ion batteries and has filed a lawsuit against multiple leading laptop PC suppliers in the USA. Nokia could easily be the next target.
Lithium ion batteries are used by many different types of portable electronic/electrical devices including MP3 players and camcorders as well as notebook PCs. But mobile phones sell in their billions and Nokia is by far the biggest supplier. The company refused to comment on the issue, however.
The move is curious because the patented technology covered in the suit relates to cathode materials developed by 3M The cathode being the postive electrode in this kind of battery.
More puzzlingly still, the lawsuit alleges 'willful infringement' by the parties involved which include CDW, Hitachi, Lenovo, Matsushita (Panasonic), Sony and others.