Great news for companies under pressure from Lodsys. And it sounds like great news about the patent mess in general. Groklaw analyzes Google’s request to reexamine the Lodsys patents. It’s really thorough, but there’s a nice summary at the end:
Most reexamination requests rely on a finding of obviousness, which is a far more subject standard than demonstrating a lack of novelty. A lack of novelty can be established by any one piece of prior art that discloses each of the key elements of claimed invention. In each of these cases Google has identified not one, but five separate pieces of prior art that each alone demonstrates a lack of novelty in the critical Lodsys claims.
I like this. And I hope Lodsys gets smashed. Google, unlike many other companies, is a titan that has a vested interest in weakening the patent system.
Yes, Google just acquired a massive portfolio from the acquisition of Motorola mobility. Google’s no saint, but so far their business model doesn’t depend on using patents to offensively stop competitors or extract licensing fees. For now, Google’s in a good place to upset a system that causes havoc for the little guys and the company wants to be seen in that light. I’m okay with that.
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