Together with the Gizmo service, you can VoIP like it’s going out of style.

n810 rocks….and the newer WiMax model has native cellular support too (Sprint I think) for total linux-fueled uber-geek awesomeness.

iPhone, hand over your lunch NOW

Maybe go take the California bar, they don’t require you to have a law degree. Patent lawyers do the exact same stuff as patent agents, but for more money.

misterpeasea on June 5, 2008 at 10:57 PM

State bar is one thing. Patent bar is another. If you want to be a patent lawyer (and practice before the BPAI, TTAB, and Federal Circuit – the Appelate Court that hears patent and trademark cases) you take the patent bar after you take a state bar.

BTW, you can’t have any old (English, Sociology, Communications) undergrad degree to become a patent attorney or agent. You must have a degree in the hard sciences first. But, you could feasibly major in basket weaving and be admitted to practice before a state bar.

25 separate inventors…somebody will challenge its validity on that ground for sure.

Oath, Assignment, file, repeat.

Some of the claims are very broad.

Two words: Office Action(s)

the publication is 371 pages long … some examiner is going to be pissed

I take it you don’t do genome sequencing applications.

it was docketed to an Examiner on April 12 … he’s probably still reading it.

It goes to the bottom of his pile. It’s probably still sitting on his desk. PTO is always hiring, BTW.

It’s also noteworthy that this application claims priority to several other provisional applications, the earliest of which was Sept. 6, 2006

Routine. This was filed on the last day to file a nonprovisional and foreign (the PCT was filed the same day as this) and claim the 09/06/2006 priority date. Since its filing, another nonprovisional was filed in April 2008 (Con? CiP?) cliaming priority to this now published application.

Nuance?

This is what the truly savvy netizen requires to reach nirvana

LimeyGeek on June 6, 2008 at 10:46 AM

Wow!

This patent seems like so many patent that rather encourage commerce actually acts to discourage commerce, reduce innovation, and hurt the economy. Check out the EFF’s Patent Busting Project for some really idiotic patents that threaten our economy:

http://w2.eff.org/patent/

thuja on June 6, 2008 at 12:48 AM

Yes, those patents really threaten our economy … we’re all going to die and be homeless and have to prostitute our bodies to winos so we can get money for crack if those patents hold … run for your lives!!

This is what the truly savvy netizen requires to reach nirvana

Pretty pictures or not, does it work well as a phone?

No. It’s like holding a credit card up to your ear (in more ways than one).

And AT&T coverage sucks.

- The Cat

Among the 25 inventors listed is Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

As if.

http://w2.eff.org/patent/

Not trying to harass, so this’ll be my last pitch:

BarBri courses are scheduled for about 2 months. Double that for no law school and CA bar, just to be safe.

A kid I worked with almost doubled his salary, just for passing the bar.

Well, thanks for the pitch – I know you mean well. I’m not so sure I could double my salary by passing the bar anyway – and that’s not because my bosses are cheap.

Coincidentally enough, I went to law school in Austin. Chock full o’ loony liberals. Except Lino Graglia, who has a national reputation because he’s a “conservative Constitutional law professor.”

And as an extra added bonus, the loony liberals were all fired up my first year, because of Hopwood. Which is probably why they let me in.

For example: UT President Robert Berdahl predicted “the virtual resegregation of higher education” following the decision.

I remember that one well – that was the year I moved here. Loved it too – Graglia definitely has a pair, and he had the libs in an absolute tizzy.

Luckily for me, I live in waaay north Austin, in Williamson County – which is most definitely a deep shade of red. Keeps me sane.

thirteen28 on June 5, 2008 at 11:16 PM

Not trying to harass, so this’ll be my last pitch:

BarBri courses are scheduled for about 2 months. Double that for no law school and CA bar, just to be safe.

A kid I worked with almost doubled his salary, just for passing the bar.

Coincidentally enough, I went to law school in Austin. Chock full o’ loony liberals. Except Lino Graglia, who has a national reputation because he’s a “conservative Constitutional law professor.”

And as an extra added bonus, the loony liberals were all fired up my first year, because of Hopwood. Which is probably why they let me in.

For example: UT President Robert Berdahl predicted “the virtual resegregation of higher education” following the decision.

Heh.

A “mere” patent agent? Why? Fell into it? Maybe go take the California bar, they don’t require you to have a law degree. Patent lawyers do the exact same stuff as patent agents, but for more money.

misterpeasea on June 5, 2008 at 10:57 PM

I was actually working at a company here in Austin doing engineering work when I saw a classified ad that said “Engineering Careers in Patent Law.” My company wasn’t doing too good then (and they don’t even exist now), so I thought it was a good time to make a jump, and it sounded quite interesting. I’ve never looked back since, it’s worked out quite nicely for me for over 9 years now.

I suppose I could try to take the bar in a state like CA that doesn’t require a law degree, but I really don’t have the desire to put in the time studying that would be necessary to pass it. If I had gotten into this field when I was younger (currently a couple weeks shy of 44), I probably would have went to law school.

And I really can’t complain at all about what I’m paid. My firm is generous with salaries and has a kick-ass bonus plan. I’m not rich – but I can Super Size my Happy Meal whenever I feel like it :))

The application was published a few days ago but it was filed all the way back on September 5, 2007, which seems odd to my totally novice eye given that the original iPhone debuted only eight weeks earlier. Would they really have had in the plans in place for v2.0 so quickly?

Not unusual at all. They probably had design teams working on the 2.0 before the original one made its debut. The firm I work at does a significant amount of work for AMD; we’d literally written dozens and dozens of applications related to various AMD processors well before they hit the market.

What he said. The on-sale bar allows you to file up to one year after putting the patented technology on the market.

So it could have been filed to cover v1.0. It could have nothing to do with v2.0. I didn’t see anything I thought was different from the original iPhone, but then, I’m not intimately familiar with the iPhone.

It’s also noteworthy that this application claims priority to several other provisional applications, the earliest of which was Sept. 6, 2006 – which basically means they were working on some of this stuff at least a year in advance.

Eh. When they come up with some new concept, they file a quick and dirty provisional application because it’s cheap ($100), and just about any ol’ sheaf of papers will do. A utility application has stricter rules for format and is more expensive, so they probably aggregated a bunch of tweaks into an omnibus application.

thirteen28 on June 5, 2008 at 10:34 PM

A “mere” patent agent? Why? Fell into it? Maybe go take the California bar, they don’t require you to have a law degree. Patent lawyers do the exact same stuff as patent agents, but for more money.

Any patent lawyers in the audience willing and able to take a quickie look and see if anything jumps out?

Does a patent agent count? I can do anything before the USPTO that a patent lawyer can, you mainly need an attorney when you want to sue somebody for infringement.

What jumps out?

- The inventorship – 25 separate inventors. If this becomes a patent and is ever litigated, somebody will challenge its validity on that ground for sure. A patent can be invalidated for incorrect inventorship.

- Some of the claims are very broad. They’re not likely to be that broad if the application is allowed.

- I can’t say much about the technology itself, since it’s more software oriented and I’m a hardware guy.

- Man, the publication is 371 pages long … some examiner is going to be pissed. Not good with the current stance of the PTO (allowance rates are way down). I looked up it’s transaction history, it was docketed to an Examiner on April 12 … he’s probably still reading it.

(.pdf of the publication, with full drawings, available here – Allah, this would be better than a year’s worth of issues of Playboy to you … )

- The good news? Now that this is public knowledge, anyone will be able to use it if it doesn’t mature into a patent. And if it does … I’m sure you’ll see a lot of this stuff in a future Apple product.

The application was published a few days ago but it was filed all the way back on September 5, 2007, which seems odd to my totally novice eye given that the original iPhone debuted only eight weeks earlier. Would they really have had in the plans in place for v2.0 so quickly?

Not unusual at all. They probably had design teams working on the 2.0 before the original one made its debut. The firm I work at does a significant amount of work for AMD; we’d literally written dozens and dozens of applications related to various AMD processors well before they hit the market.

Besides, a lot of what’s in applications like this is more high-level conceptual stuff, many of the little implementational details are not included. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if this was filed before they had anything close to a working model (that’s not uncommon either, filing an application before reducing to practice).

It’s also noteworthy that this application claims priority to several other provisional applications, the earliest of which was Sept. 6, 2006 – which basically means they were working on some of this stuff at least a year in advance.

Hope this helps.

Oh, the banhammer’s coming out, baby. BEHOLD ITS MIGHT.
Allahpundit on June 5, 2008 at 8:07 PM

Oooh. If it does, I want to ride by on my scooter and gawk.

(HP will clone a version called the DELGADO TAURUS.)

Dude, the iPhone is the best gadget I’ve ever owned. Evah.

Allahpundit on June 5, 2008 at 7:55 PM

You’ve never owned an Etch-A-Sketch?

It’s not the features, it’s the experience.

You too shall be assimilated, oh yes.

Allahpundit on June 5, 2008 at 8:06 PM

Whatever. It’s still overpriced Apple crapola in a glitzy package. You want to buy hype? Have fun. Some of us aren’t dolts.

Oh, the banhammer’s coming out, baby. BEHOLD ITS MIGHT.

Allahpundit on June 5, 2008 at 8:07 PM

*poster near tears over incandescent, unadorned beauty of an “its” used properly in a sentence on the Internet*

See? Chacun à son goût.