patents

Google will not sue any user, distributor or developer of open-source software on specified patents, unless first attacked, the company said on Thursday.

Security company Maz Encryption Technologies sued seven large technology companies for allegedly infringing on several of its security patents. The suits target security technology used in the iPhone and iPad as well as the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, among other products.

A San Jose federal court has permanently enjoined A10 Networks from selling server load balancers that infringe on patents belonging to competitor Brocade, underscoring $60 million of a $112 million verdict awarded to Brocade last August.

Google kicked its inventors into high gear in 2012, earning 1,151 U.S. patents and more than doubling its 2011 patent count.

With an eye toward emerging from bankruptcy in 2013 Kodak today said it sold its formidable patent portfolio for $525 million to a consortium that will ultimately license pieces of the collection to other companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook.

As companies strive to regain the ground lost to the recession, CEOs are talking a lot about innovation. Some have decreed that a certain percentage of revenue must come from brand-new products and services each year. If CEOs want innovation, then CIOs ought to want patents. Not for internal IT operations inventions, but for unique business methods and other inventions made possible by new technology. The innovation mandate, and the convergence of social media, mobile technology and analytics, has companies running to the patent office, trying to lock in ownership of new ways to do business and interact with customers.

Getting people to agree on the problems, let alone the solutions, is no easy task.