Motorola has scored a double victory against Apple in the two companies’ online patent war. First, Motorola began enforcing a ruling handed down by German courts in December that prohibited the sale of most 3G iOS devices in Apple’s online …

Microsoft and LG have announced today that they have entered into a patent license agreement covering LG’s Android and Chrome OS devices. This agreement expands upon a previous agreement between the two companies, and is one of ten similar deals …

Taiwanese news agencies are reporting that Apple has agreed to pay Elan Microelectronics $5 million as part of an out of court settlement of the two companies’ ongoing patent infringement case. The companies also agreed to exchange access to one …

One of the biggest features of Google and Samsung’s new Galaxy Nexus phone is its face unlock feature: using the device’s front-facing camera, users can unlock their phones just by showing it their faces. Though the feature is not without …

Late last week the US Patent Office released a patent application (PDF) filed by Apple in April of this year. The application deals with “a fuel cell system which is capable of both providing power to and receiving power from …

The US Internation Trade Commission issued a ruling (PDF) late yesterday blocking the importation of several of HTC’s Android-based smartphones in the US. The ITC found merit to Apple’s claim that HTC had infringed on two of Apple’s patents. The …

With as much success as Google has had, it is somewhat surprising that it has not been very fortunate in the social media area. It has had many attempts that have either been shut down or consolidated into other efforts, but the company has made it clear that it is not giving up on social media.

New criteria for restricting the scope of what the US Patent Office considers patent-worthy poses a threat to numerous software patents, including Google’s famed PageRank.

A law professor discovered a constitutional flaw in the way 46 judges have been appointed to positions of hearing patent cases, as their appointee had no right to do so.

Technology from Google submitted to the US Patent Office shows how they can tell when someone viewing a video skipped an ad.

Everyone thinks Microsoft’s purchase of Fast Search & Transfer is about enterprise search. We thought there could be more to the deal. Here’s a stream of consciousness for you to consider.

Company CEO Jerry Yang told CES 2008 attendees Yahoo Mail would become a much more socially aware application, able to tap into multiple social networks.

“Recognizing Text In Images” served as the main idea for a Google patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization.

I think before the robots take over everything and use us for batteries, it will appear that humans have hyper-evolved into mechanically enhanced super-sapiens. But that’s really just to build false confidence in us. A recent Microsoft patent application is perhaps the next step toward that digitally created human battery soup dream.

Devices like the iPhone could be virtual baristas and sandwich makers, if an Apple patent application for placing orders at places like Starbucks and Panera receives approval.

Google may have thought they saw the last of HyperPhrase Technologies and their patent infringement suit over AdSense and AutoLink. That would be wrong.

Since there isn’t an official definition of what constitutes a snippet, Google engineers have patented the way the search engine builds snippets for its results.

eBay’s potential damage payment to MercExchange over a patent infringement case hasn’t dimmed eBay’s hopes for the appeal process.

Television, radio, newspapers, telephony, and now magazines may vie for Google’s attention. Did multi-billion dollar search ads become boring?

Northeastern University has sued Google in the patent-friendly federal court for the Eastern District of Texas, accusing the search giant of infringing upon its work.

Can’t be bothered to type “goodbye” at the end of IM conversation?  That’s okay – Microsoft wants to do it for you.  The real kicker, though, is that Microsoft also wants to patent this practice.

The long-running battle between Amazon.com and a New Zealand movie technician over Amazon’s 1-Click patent not only turned out poorly for Amazon, but a twist at the end mentioned why a prominent figure in the tech industry may have decided to back off from fighting this battle.