Blockchain is perhaps the most hyped technology of the past five years. The technology that allows us to create trustless immutable shared ledgers promises to bring transparency and honesty to commerce by disintermediating and decentralizing functions that rely on trusted third parties today. The promise and the potential are almost as big as the hype.
View More What would a blockchain patent war look like?Category: patents
Amazon patents hijack-proof delivery drones
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Amazon just received a patent for hijack-proof delivery drones.
The company filed a patent titled “Hostile takeover avoidance of unmanned vehicles” two years ago, and it was finally approved last week. The patent is specifically designed for delivery vehicles, and its aimed at preventing “nefarious individuals” from taking over the company’s drones.
Although there’s no guarantee that this patented technology will ever see the light of day, it’s still considered a major development — especially for an e-commerce giant like Amazon — since it could revolutionize the company’s delivery capabilities. Read more…
More about Amazon, Drones, Artificial Intelligence, Patent, and Patents
View More Amazon patents hijack-proof delivery dronesFacebook seeks patent on tech that turns on your smartphone microphone
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To hear Facebook tell it, no one at the company is secretly using your phone’s microphone to listen in on your conversations for the purpose of ad targeting.
But that doesn’t mean they aren’t open to the possibility.
A patent application filed by the Menlo Park-based company details a convoluted process to trigger users’ devices to record the ambient audio surrounding them — be that your conversation or the sounds in your bedroom — and then send some form of data based on that recording back to the company.
And yeah, it’s creepy as hell.
More about Facebook, Privacy, Patents, Tech, and Social Media Companies
View More Facebook seeks patent on tech that turns on your smartphone microphoneApple wins $539 million in damages in patent battle with Samsung
Samsung has been ordered to pay Apple Inc. $539 million in damages, following a seven-year clash over patents which ended in a retrial.
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple sought $1 billion in the retrial, an amount it was awarded back in 2012 over sever…
Jury finds Samsung owes Apple $539M in patent case stretching back to 2011
A patent case that began back in 2011 has reached a conclusion, with Samsung ordered to pay about $539 million to Apple over infringements of the latter’s patents in devices that are now long gone. The case has dragged on for years as both sides argued about the finer points of how much was owed per device, what could be deducted, and so on. It’s been eye-wateringly boring, but at least it’s over now. Maybe.
View More Jury finds Samsung owes Apple $539M in patent case stretching back to 2011Crunch Report | Google and Tencent ink patent agreement
Google inks a patent deal with Tencent, Tile lays off 30 people and Apple hires the tech team from Silicon Valley Data Science (SVDS). All this on Crunch Report. Read More
View More Crunch Report | Google and Tencent ink patent agreementHere’s what LG’s foldable phone could look like
Samsung’s not the only one reportedly working on a foldable phone. LG might be developing one, too.
GSMInfo (via The Verge) has discovered an patent with illustrations that hint at what the Korean electronics giant’s foldable phone might look like.
S…
IBM led on patents in 2017, Facebook broke into top 50 for the first time
Patents may sometimes get a bad rap for how they are abused (and misused) by some companies for commercial gain, but they also remain a marker of how a tech company is progressing with its R&D and pushing ahead on innovation. For one measure …
View More IBM led on patents in 2017, Facebook broke into top 50 for the first timeBlackBerry will pay Nokia $137 million over a contract dispute
It’s been a while since Nokia and BlackBerry were bitter smartphone rivals, but there’s plenty of bad blood left between the two companies. This morning, BlackBerry threw in the towel on the battle, agreeing to pay $137 million to the Finnish company. The award stems from a 2016 dispute over patent licensing contract. The details of the contract aren’t clear, but the… Read More
Qualcomm alleges that Apple’s iPhone infringes on Palm Pre patents
Shortly after the announcement of the iPhone X in September, my colleague Natasha Lomas noted the similarities between the phone and how WebOS operated on the Palm Pre. She ended her article, noting “in the iPhone X it’s clear you’re looking at a little ghost of the Pre.” It seems that Qualcomm’s legal team was taking note. Read More