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EFF asks for help debunking bar-code patent
The frontline of the patent war.
By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Published: 10:33 GMT, 16 November 06
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking for help to challenge what it calls an "overly broad" bar-code scanning patent held by NeoMedia Technologies.
The online rights advocacy group said it hopes people will find prior inventions (or "art"), to debunk NeoMedia's patent for reading an index off a product, matching it with information in a database and then connecting to a computer or website. "In other words, NeoMedia claims to have invented the basic concept of any technology that could, say, scan a product on a supermarket shelf and then connect you to a price-comparison website," the EFF said in an alert issued Tuesday.
A NeoMedia representative didn't respond to a request for a comment on the EFF action.
EFF has found "several strong leads" for prior art, said Jason Schultz, head of the EFF's Patent Busting Project. The EFF is looking for prior art before 1995, when NeoMedia filed a related patent claim. "NeoMedia has been threatening a number of small businesses that have not been able to fight back against the patent, so they were on our radar," Schultz said. NeoMedia has also targeted one public interest technology project with lawsuit threats, he said.
Schultz declined to name the targets of NeoMedia threats, but the EFF website said NeoMedia has threatened small information-aggregating companies such as ScanBuy and AirClic and is a potential threat to Barcr, an open-source bar-code scanner for camera phones.
The two-year-old Patent Busting Project has targeted 10 patents the EFF believes were awarded in error. The US Patent and Trademark Office has begun re-examinations on two of the 10 patents, Schultz said.
A number of tech companies and advocacy groups say patent reform is needed in the US. Among several ideas for patent reform are calls for easier ways to challenge patents and better initial examinations of patents. Some small inventors have resisted changes, saying the current patent system protects them against big companies stealing their patents.
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streetstylz | Published: 20:59 GMT, 18 February 2009
NeoMedia Wins Patent Reexamination !!!!!! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/NeoMedias-Barcode-Lookup-bw-14397693.html :)
Clay | Published: 17:13 GMT, 18 February 2009
The USPTO validated all 95 claims on Neomedia's Barcode lookup patent today. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/090218/20090218005480.html?.v=1
streetstylz | Published: 00:35 GMT, 02 October 2008
NeoMedia's Patent Review Moves to Next Phase http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080725/0419248.html
dean collins | Published: 19:03 GMT, 19 July 2008
Posted first at; http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-patent-office-rejects-all-ninety.html Oh Wow breaking news - It's a great freaking day for the EFF :) U.S. Patent Office Rejects All Ninety Five NeoMedia Patent Claims http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-patent-office-rejects-all-ninety.html Hey Streetstylz and all you other Neomedia flunkies - when you read this post think of me :) This is a really big deal - 95 out of 95 patent claims all rejected, wow this is too cool and has put a smile on my face for the whole weekend. Wonder what Ogilvy (and others) are thinking backing the wrong 'indirect' technology now. When Neomedia go bankrupt or are countersued out of existence all those marketing campaigns will cease to work and all the time and effort invested will be wasted. Direct connect 'license free' QR codes are the way to go - paying license fees for a technology that Denso open sourced and made free in the 1990's is just dumb.
streetstylz | Published: 02:20 GMT, 10 July 2007
The EFF was denied by the US Patent Office on their request for the reexamination of NeoMedia's patent. streetstylz.blogspot.com
AJ | Published: 08:28 GMT, 08 July 2007
THE EFF WAS JUST DENIED THEIR REQUEST FOR THE REEXAMINATION OF NEOMEDIA'S PATENTS. NEOMEDIA'S PATENTS CONTINUE TO STAND STRONG AND PROVE TO BE AN INVINCIBLE FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH !!
AJ | Published: 08:22 GMT, 26 April 2007
The EFF has absolutely no case against NeoMedia. As a lawyer, there are patents in existence that do describe scanning and reading UPC labels. However, they are in reference to closed systems or simply in reference to hand held barcode scanning equipment. That seems to be the case here. These previous patents do not seem to reference using UPC codes in an open system, ala NeoMedia's patent, to connect directly to the Internet. That is the key difference between NeoMedia's patent and the prior art provided by the EFF. In the AirClic vs NeoMedia case, it was deemed that AirClic was connecting barcodes internally in a closed system and was not violating NeoMedia's patents, which cover the process in an open 'direct connect to the Internet' system. Hence, the court already decided and acknowledged that there are two different kinds of patented processes here. Open vs Closed systems. AirClic did not receive a license to use NeoMedia's patented technology, and the two companies a
jcavitt | Published: 02:56 GMT, 26 April 2007
Neo media needs to be stopped on how they conduct business..