Cody Taylor

bizwriter writes “Many large companies have been closely monitoring the Tafas v. Doll lawsuit over whether the US Patent and Trademark Office has the power to change the patent application process in significant ways, so as to restrict the scope of patents and the chances of getting one. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has finally spoken, with a split court ruling that the USPTO does have the necessary authority. The case stems from a court challenge to four new rules the USPTO put in place in 2007. A number of tech companies including Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Apple, and Intel have supported the rule changes, which would strengthen their positions and make it more difficult for small companies to create, protect, and bring to market disruptive technology. These companies didn’t have it all their way, as the appeals court said that one of the four rules conflicts with existing patent law and sent the other three back to a lower court for further review. If the decision is sustained by a full review of all 12 Federal Circuit appeals judges, it could be a blow to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, which depend on being able to obtain large numbers of patents. Expect further appeals on this one, and for the only beneficiaries in the short run to be the lawyers.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nicholas Arthur Woodhams, a 23 year old from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was recently slapped upside the gord with federal charges of fraud and money laundering after he managed to con Apple into shipping him around 9,000 iPod shuffles.

According to the Apple Store, the company’s 0 Bluetooth headset has been discontinued.

Apple’s iPhone 3.0 OS and SDK promises much, except the ability to do more than one thing at a time.

The beta version is still slow and has a ways to go before it can compete with Apple’s iPhone-ized Safari browser, but these are forgivable shortcomings, given its beta status.No, the real problem with Fennec is that it’s available only for one platform: Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet. Who cares about that device?

Apple has sold a total of 17 million iPhones — including sales of both the original iPhone and iPhone 3G — since launch, according to the company’s vice president of iPod and iPhone product marketing.

After signaling its intent to follow Apple’s wildly successful iPhone into the smartphone business, Dell’s first attempts to produce a phone have been rejected by the carries for being too dull and lacking enough differentiation to stand out in a competitive environment, according to a report.

A series of reports and rumors predict that Apple will ship a netbook this year. Lenovo suddenly “leaks” a two-year-old prototype with a unique form-factor that would be *perfect* for Apple’s netbook. Coincidence?

MBCook writes “AppleInsider has an article discussing Dell’s attempt to enter the smartphone market, as well as the news that the phone was rejected by carriers as too dull. The article doesn’t pull punches: ‘Dell’s failure to successfully step from the commodity PC business into the mobile handset market should come as no surprise, as smartphones requires expertise in software platform development, consumer design savvy, and portable device engineering, all things Dell has never demonstrated any proficiency in.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

he iPhone 3.0 software includes the ability to copy-and-paste, a landscape keyboard, and push notifications. However, none of these updates were as revolutionary as the new features Apple offered to iPhone application developers. The one to watch however is the ability to purchase items within an application.