Press Releases: June, 2004
EFF Announces Ten Most-Wanted Patents
Targets Will Be Busted for "Crimes Against the Public Domain"
San Francisco - Start forming your patent-busting posses! Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Patent Busting Project announced which patents the organization will target first in its campaign to rid the world of frivolous patent infringement lawsuits. After sifting through dozens of software and Internet-related patents submitted to its patent busting contest, EFF targeted ten whose crimes have made them enemies of the public domain. All the most-wanted patents are dangerously overbroad; many pose a threat to freedom of expression online. And every single one of the targeted patents is held by an entity that has threatened or brought lawsuits against small businesses, individuals, or nonprofits.
Target number one is Acacia, a company that has litigated relentlessly against small businesses to enforce patents that it claims cover a broad array of technologies used to send and receive streaming media online. Victims of Acacia's legal threats include websites that host home videos and several "mom-and-pop" adult media companies.
Other offenders include Acceris, which claims that its patents cover any technologies (such as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP) that allow people to make phone calls over the Internet, and ClearChannel, which has been threatening artists and small CD companies that record live concerts and burn them to CDs for fans at the end of a show. Another target is Test.com, which has a patent on a method for taking and scoring tests online, and has been sending threatening letters to universities with distance learning programs.
"Patents are meant to protect companies against giant competitors, not to help them prey on folks who can barely afford a lawyer," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz, who leads the Patent Busting Project. "We hope our project will not only assist the victims of these abusive patents but also help make the case for global reform of the patent system."
With its targets in sight, EFF's team of lawyers, technologists, and experts will now begin to research and collect prior art. Prior art is hard evidence that a patent is "obvious" because it is based on a commonly known idea or because the claimed "invention" actually existed before the patent was filed. Once the team has gathered enough prior art on a given patent, EFF will submit a petition to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in a legal process known as "reexamination." If the USPTO finds the prior art compelling, it will formally revoke the patent and release the idea back into the public domain, where it belongs.
Contacts:
Jason Schultz
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
jason@eff.org
Annalee Newitz
Media Coordinator/Policy Analyst
Electronic Frontier Foundation
annalee@eff.org
Online Privacy "Eviscerated" by First Circuit Decision
The First Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a grave blow to the privacy of Internet communications with its Permalink]
EFF Declares Supreme Court COPA Decision a Win
EFF applauds today's Supreme Court decision to uphold a preliminary injunction that restricts the government from enacting the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The law, which was passed in 1998, criminalizes sexual expression on the Internet that could be deemed "harmful to minors" by a reasonable person using contemporary community standards.
Will the Inducing Infringement Act Kill the iPod?
EFF Attorneys Play Devil's Advocates, Post Mock Inducement Complaint against Apple
Electronic Frontier Foundation Partners with No Starch Press
Civil Liberties Group and Technical Publisher Work Toward a Common Goal
San Francisco - No Starch Press has announced a partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in which the progressive technical publisher will donate a percentage of its sales to EFF.
Personal Technology Freedom Coalition Created
Industry, Academic, Public Interest Groups Support Bill To Improve Consumer Rights and Protect Technological Innovation
A broad group of organizations and companies representing diverse sectors of the U.S. economy has come together to form a new organization, the Personal Technology Freedom Coalition.
RIAA Asks FCC to Lock Down Digital Radio Broadcasts
EFF, Brennan Center Argue Against Restrictions on Future Technologies
Court Rules DirecTV Must Prove More than Possession
Based on arguments made by civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and attorney Albert Zakarian for defendant Mike Treworgy, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that DirecTV cannot sue individuals for "mere possession" of technology that is capable of intercepting DirecTV's satellite signal. "We're glad to see the court apply common sense to this issue," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz.
DirecTV to Narrow Anti-Piracy Campaign
Satellite TV Giant Will No Longer Prosecute Users for Mere Possession
San Francisco and Palo Alto, CA
Being a Webmaster for Controversial Islamic Websites Not a Crime
Idaho Student Acquitted of Terrorism Charges
In a victory for the First Amendment rights of Internet users, jurors returned a verdict today acquitting University of Idaho graduate student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen of terrorism charges. Hussayen had been charged in federal court with providing "material support" to terrorists in the form of "expert advice and assistance," based on his activities as webmaster for a number of web sites and message boards serving Muslims. This same law, which was expanded by the USA PATRIOT Act, has already been found unconstitutional by one federal court.
EFF Asks Public to Identify Bad Patents in Patent Busting Contest
Organization Seeking Ten Patents to Challenge
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling on the public to help identify patents that are having negative effects on Internet innovation and free expression. As part of EFF's Patent Busting Project, EFF seeks nominations for the ten worst offenders in the world of intellectual property. Winners will become the first targets for the project's team of attorneys, technologists and experts, who will file "re-examination" requests with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), asking the agency to revoke the patents.
EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz, who heads the project, said he can't wait to see what the contest turns up. "We have seen illegitimate patents asserted on such simple technologies as one-click online shopping, video streaming, and paying with credit cards online. When individuals and small businesses are faced with million-dollar legal demands, they have no choice but to capitulate and pay license fees. We aim to change that."
To qualify for the contest, a bad patent has to be more than just stupid and invalid. It must be issued in the United States and be software or Internet-related. Also, the patent owner must be actively threatening or suing people for licensing fees. Contest judges are particularly interested in patents for technologies that enable free expression, such as streaming video, blogging tools, and voice over IP (VoIP). "Patent owners who claim control over communication tools can threaten anyone who uses them, even for personal or non-commercial purposes," explained Schultz. "Overreaching patent claims unfairly reduce the tremendous benefits that software and technology bring to freedom of expression."
The contest opens today and closes on June 23. Winners will be announced on June 30.
Check out the Patent Busting Contest.
Contact:
Jason Schultz
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
jason@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x112
Pro-Consumer Privacy Bill Gets a Hearing
EFF Backs California Senate Bill Protecting Anonymous Speech Online
San Francisco and Berkeley, CA - Your employer just laid off 300 of your colleagues without notice and without severance pay. So you go online and post an angry, anonymous comment about it on a Yahoo! message board. Although you could lose your job if your boss discovered what you
Maryland Election Officials Under Fire From Voters
EFF Files Brief in Case Challenging the Use of Insecure Diebold E-Voting Machines
