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US Dir. of Citizen Participation Patents the News

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| theodp writes "Ex-Googler and now White 
| House Director of Citizen Participation 
| Katie Stanton is charged with promoting 
| open public dialogues. Last Thursday, 
| Stanton and Google snagged a patent on 
| displaying financial news. Google explains 
| that Stanton's invention — Interactive 
| Financial Charting and Related News 
| Correlation — will 'facilitate and 
| encourage the user's use and understanding 
| of financial information,' which does jibe 
| nicely with Stanton's appointment to 
| Obama's New Media Team. Too bad it'll be 
| encumbered by a Google patent until 2027."
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http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/002259/US-Dir-of-Citizen-Participation-Patents-the-News?from=rss

Do Patents Slow Down Innovation?

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| I’m still obsessed with my mission to 
| “abolish software patents” especially after 
| receiving yet another email from a new 
| startup that claims to be a “Patent Insurance 
| Company.”  A number of these have popped up 
| recently in the past few years, including 
| several that are funded by VCs.  Their pitch 
| is that you pay them an annual fee, license 
| any patents you have to them, and they will 
| “protect you” against any patent litigation.  
| Whenever I hear this pitch, all I can think 
| about is Al Capone walking the streets of 
| Chicago going door to door offering 
| “protection” to all of the local businessmen 
| if they will pay his vig every week.
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http://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/11645/do-patents-slow-down-innovation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EIblogs+%28Enterprise+Irregulars%29


Recent:

Google Files For Local Search And Mapping Patent In India

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| Google has filed for a patent in India, for a map based local search
| application. This appears to essentially be a patent for Google Local on
| Mobile, a service launched in 2005, and subsequently renamed/replaced by
| Google Maps for mobile.
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http://www.medianama.com/2008/10/223-google-maps-local-search-patent-india/
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