]
] Are you sitting down? The Patent Office has rejected
] Microsoft's FAT patent in the reexamination proceeding
] initiated earlier this year by Dan Ravicher's Public
] Patent Foundation, PubPat. As you can see, Daniel Lyons'
] unfounded mockery of Mr. Ravicher's credentials was
] misguided. Here's what Ravicher says about this
] development, "I hope those companies that chose to take a
] license from Microsoft for the patent negotiated refund
] clauses so that they can get their money back." Microsoft
] has the opportunity to respond, but it's uphill for them
] now.

USPTO Rejects M$ FAT Patent

] The framers, of course, believed in the absolute
] necessity of limiting power and pitting power against
] power so that no entity could get overweening power. Yet
] Congress is now attempting, with the Act, to deprive the
] federal courts of jurisdiction to check Congress's
] wayward ways -- in an arena where Congress was
] specifically believed by the framers to be dangerous.
] (Recall that phrase from the First Amendment's
] Establishment Clause, "Congress shall make no law.....)
]
] Do the members of Congress genuinely think that 50 state
] supreme courts -- with a host of disparate views -- could
] possibly keep Congress in check? Or do they perhaps,
] believe that as members of Congress, they need no check?
] My money is on the latter, but either way, they are very
] wrong.

Sigh...

CNN.com - Lunacy of Pledge Protection Act - Sep 23, 2004

] The lawsuit, sent to the jury in United States District
] Court for Northern California on Tuesday, asserts that a
] county policy that allows the authorities to smear pepper
] spray ointment on the eyes of protesters constitutes an
] unnecessary and excessive use of force, tantamount to
] torture.

Pepper-Spray Case Goes to Jury in California

] WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 - The Transportation Security
] Administration said Tuesday that it planned to require
] all airlines to turn over records on every passenger
] carried domestically in June, so the agency could test a
] new system to match passenger names against lists of
] known or suspected terrorists.

U.S. Wants Air Traveler Files for Security Test

] There is a risk that patents will strangle the life out
] of software innovation. While IBM, the biggest holder of
] IT patents, is holding back on obtaining more, Microsoft
] is making aggressive threats about patenting its
] developments. Yet the value of patents is doubtful at the
] best of times.

Devil's Advocate: Patents are killing software innovation - silicon.com

] Many believe that patents pose a large threat to Free /
] Open Source Software. Although this may be true, Free
] Software is no more concerned about, and actually might
] be less concerned about, software patents than most other
] software developers.

Why Free/Open Source Software Might Have Less to Fear than Non-Free Software

]
] PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A judge granted Verizon Wireless
] a permanent injunction against a Rhode Island man accused
] of sending millions of unsolicited text-message
] advertisements to cell phone customers in four states.

Yay.

Rhode Island Man Barred From Sending Junk Text Messages

]
] ICANN confirmed today that Judge A. Howard Matz of the
] U.S. District Court, Central District of California has
] issued an order dismissing VeriSign, Inc.'s anti-trust
] claims against ICANN, with prejudice. In dismissing
] VeriSign's anti-trust claims, Judge Matz noted that
] VeriSign had failed in its first amended complaint to
] sufficiently allege an anti-trust claim.

Yay!

VeriSign's Anti-Trust Claim Against ICANN Dismissed

] Federal and state law enforcement agencies have quietly
] arrested or charged dozens of people with crimes related
] to junk e-mail, identity theft and other online scams in
] recent weeks, according to several people involved in the
] actions.

It begins...

Dozens charged in spam, scam crackdown

] The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has ruled, once
] again, that The University of Califonia's controversial
] '906' browser patent is invalid. The decision gives
] Microsoft the upper hand in its battle with university
] spin-off Eolas, the sole licensee of the patent.

I think this is probably great news. Maybe these IP pissants will force IBM, M$, etc to force reforms on the PTO!

Microsoft wins another Eolas web patent battle | The Register