Category Archives: Intellectual Property

Amazon Web Services, Archiving & Regulatory Retention, Content Management, Data, DropBox, Google, Google Drive, Intellectual Property, Social, Storage

The Fracturing of the Enterprise Brain

Never mind BYOD (bring your own device), employee use of non-corporate online storage solutions could lead to the weakening of enterprise ability to access company data and intellectual property. In the worst case scenario, companies could lose information forever.

A post by Brian Proffitt at ReadWrite Enterprise explains:

Employees are the keepers of knowledge within a company. Want to run the monthly payroll? The 20-year-veteran in accounting knows how to manage that. Building the new company logo? The superstar designer down in the art department is your gal. When such employees leave the company, it can be a bumpy transition, but usually not impossible, because the data they’ve been using lies on the corporate file server and can be used to piece together the work that’s been done.

Of course, that’s based on the premise that, for the past couple of decades or so, data has essentially been stored in one of two places: on the file servers or the employee’s local computer.

Today, though, people store data in a variety of places, not all of it under the direct control of IT. Gmail, Dropbox, Google Drive or a company’s cloud on Amazon Web Services…

Read the article.

Conventional PCI, Intellectual Property, nCircle PureCloud, Network security, Patent, PureCloud

nCircle Gets Additional Patent for Their Security Services

nCircle today announced the award of its second PureCloud patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. nCircle’s intellectual property portfolio now includes 11 patents. nCircle’s patents cover a wide range of security innovations and represent the company’s significant, ongoing investment in security technology research and innovation.

nCircle PureCloud is a cloud-based security services platform that requires no hardware or software to be installed or managed. nCircle PureCloud dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of a wide range of security services — including vulnerability scanning, PCI scanning and web application scanning — making these practices easily accessible to small and medium businesses.

“Attackers are targeting smaller businesses that typically have fewer security resources than larger companies,” said Tim ‘TK’ Keanini, chief research officer for nCircle. “The breakthrough technology in nCircle PureCloud helps level the playing field by making enterprise class security tools accessible to all businesses, regardless of size.”

GoGrid, Intellectual Property, SOASTA, United States Patent and Trademark Office

SOASTA Patents Cross-Cloud Grid Provisioning

SOASTA, Inc. today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued SOASTA a patent for Cross-Cloud Grid Provisioning, U.S. Patent No. 8,341,462. The technology, which SOASTA invented in 2008, enables SOASTA and its customers to realistically simulate mobile and web traffic by deploying thousands of servers across different cloud providers simultaneously. Cross-Cloud Grid Provisioning is part of SOASTA’s platform to ensure the performance and reliability of mobile apps and websites for companies and organizations like NASA, the London 2012 Olympics, Microsoft, Netflix, Intuit, and American Girl.

“SOASTA was one of the first companies in 2008 to deliver cloud computing as a service,” said Tom Lounibos, SOASTA CEO. “We knew it was critical for our customer to quickly simulate mobile and web traffic anywhere in the world to reliably test their online properties. SOASTA’s engineering team responded by developing and designing innovative technology to automate the difficult task of manually provisioning across different clouds. Now our customers and employees can easily set up and tear down huge cloud grids on-demand, deploying thousands of servers in minutes.”

Before Cross-Cloud Grid Provisioning, a lack of servers constrained performance testing. Even today, setting up servers in the cloud can take many hours. However, with Cross-Cloud Grid Provisioning, SOASTA’s Global Test Cloud is now able to leverage more than 500,000 servers in 60 global locations running on 20 providers, including Amazon, Rackspace, IBM, Microsoft, and GoGrid. Setup takes minutes – even for the largest tests.

“Cloud computing depends on rapid deployment and on-demand access,” said Melinda Ballou, Program Director for IDC’s Application Life-Cycle Management research. “Workloads like load and performance testing that can depend on a large number of variegated servers driving traffic from different locations are a logical application for cloud computing. Grid provisioning technology like SOASTA’s can provide immediate access to these load servers across environments to help with the problems users face when trying to utilize different cloud platforms for testing.”

“As the largest born-on-the-Internet apparel eCommerce company in the US, it is critical for our web applications to perform to our customer expectations, no matter where they are located,” said Michael Hart, Chief Technology Officer at Bonobos. “This latest SOASTA patent is unique in the cloud computing industry, allowing fast, scalable access to over 20 major public cloud providers to ensure that web applications like ours perform to their maximum capacity.”

Intellectual Property, Mobile phone, Patent, United States Patent & Trademark Office, United States patent law

8×8 Issued Two New Communications Patents

8×8, Inc. has been awarded two new patents related to its communications technologies. On October 30, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued United States Patent numbers 8,300,552, entitled “Network Interface Unit Control System and Method Therefor” and 8,300,634, entitled “Mobile Device Communications Routing.”

The “Network Interface Unit Control System and Method Therefor” patent relates to an arrangement for processing external services data including an audio, video and data signal bussing arrangement adapted to distribute audio, video and data to designated points in a user facility. The external services data are processed in a manner that enables easy user interface and control.

The “Mobile Device Communications Routing” patent relates to a variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements for communications using a mobile communications device. In connection with various embodiments, one such method relates to routing calls specifying an endpoint device, from a mobile communications device to the endpoint device, using a call forwarding/routing service provider that establishes a connection with the endpoint device. The established connection may include, for example, a Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection. In some implementations of the invention, an authentication server is contacted (e.g. via the Internet) to authenticate the call to be made via the call forwarding/routing service provider.

Since its establishment in 1987, 8×8 has been awarded eighty-five (85) United States patents covering a variety of voice and video communications, signaling, processing and storage technologies. 8×8’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bryan Martin, is a named inventor on both of the newly issued patents.


Enterprise storage, IceWEB, Intellectual Property, Patent application, Storage

IceWEB Files Patent for IceSTORM Operating System

Image representing IceWEB as depicted in Crunc...

IceWEB Inc. today announced that the Company has filed an application with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (Application #: 61714375) entitled “Single Management Pane for Unified Storage” to secure one of its most valuable assets, the IceSTORM Operating System.

“Our breakthrough ‘single pane of glass’ approach provided by all of IceWEB’s Unified Storage products is built upon our IceSTORM technology. Protecting this key intellectual property is a great step forward for our company,” said Rob Howe, CEO of IceWEB. “Our growing base of customers understands that IceSTORM makes our solutions more useful, more easily trained upon, and more quickly and easily expandable. That’s real core value.” Howe said.


Content Management, Intellectual Property, Patent, Site Management

RAMP Gets Patent on Automated Content Tagging

RAMP announced today that it has been issued its 19th patent as part of its ongoing development of intellectual property. USPN 8,280,719 covers RAMP’s unique ability to automatically tag large catalogs of audio, video, text, and image content using natural language processing combined with human guidance to create self-learning algorithms.

This technology enables RAMP to build highly scalable and cost-effective solutions for automatic content tagging – one of the most difficult and important challenges facing content producers across media and enterprise. Inadequate or incomplete tagging of content negatively impacts the performance of content management systems, adservers, and recommendation engines, and results in content that fails to generate its maximum value. USPN 8,280,719 nicely complements RAMP’s unique, patented ability to generate automated transcripts on audio and video content delivering a complete metadata solution for publishers of all content types.

“This recent patent issuance is a real testament to the deep talent and skill of the RAMP team,” said Tom Wilde, RAMP CEO. “We work hard to develop innovative ways for content producers to maximize the value of their content, and this patent is another great example of RAMP’s capabilities.”


Call Center, Intellectual Property, Patent, United States Patent and Trademark Office

8×8 Gets New Contact/Call Center Patent

8×8, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a new patent related to its contact/call center technologies. On September 25, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued United States Patent number 8,275,116, entitled “Networked Contact Center.”

The patent relates to, among other things, a networked contact center that includes multiple platforms to host multiple tenants. Example embodiments of the invention include receiving a message associated with one of the tenants and identifying one or more of the platforms associated with the message. The invention also enables the networked contact center platform to access a data location that is both associated with the tenant and shared by two or more of the multiple tenants.

Since its establishment in 1987, 8×8 has been awarded eighty-three (83) United States patents covering a variety of voice and video communications, signaling, processing and storage technologies.


Android, App Store, Apple, Apple Push Notification Service, Google, Intellectual Property, iPad, iPhone, Legal, Motorola Mobility, Patent suits, Unwired Planet

Old Model: Patents Protect Products. New Model: Patents Themselves Are Products

Unwired Planet, Inc. has filed patent infringement complaints against Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.  Unwired Planet claims to be “the inventor of the mobile Internet.” It is now an “intellectual property
company that makes and sells no products – except patent licenses. Or as they say on their website:

Old Model: Patents Protect Products. New Model: Patents Themselves Are Products

In two separate complaints filed in Reno, Nevada, Unwired Planet charges Apple with infringing 10 of its patents, and charges Google with infringing 10 different patents. Together, the two cases charge infringement of a total of 20 patents related to smart mobile devices, cloud computing, digital content stores, push notification technologies and location-based services such as mapping and advertising.

“Today’s actions follow a careful review that we launched in late 2011 as we began to transform Unwired Planet into an Intellectual Property company,” said Mike Mulica, CEO of Unwired Planet.

In the case against Apple, the complaint specifically alleges that infringing Apple products and services include, among others:

  • Mobile Devices (including mobile phones, tablets, and music players
    with the iOS operating system including iPhones, iPads, and iPods),
  • Mobile Digital Content Systems and/or Services (including Apple App
    Store, Apple Apps, iTunes),
  • Cloud Messaging Systems and/or Services (including Apple Push
    Notification Service (APNS), Siri), and
  • Map and Location Systems and/or Services (including Apple Maps, Local
    Search, iAds, Safari web browser, Find My iPhone, Find My iPad, and
    Find My Friends).

The patents asserted against Apple are:

1. United States Patent No. 6,317,594, entitled “System and method for providing data to a wireless device upon detection of activity of the device on a wireless network,” asserted against devices such as iPhones and iPads which are able to get information, for example update notifications, when the device is switched on or moves between cells of the cellular network.

2. United States Patent No. 6,317,831, entitled “Method and apparatus for establishing a secure connection over a one-way data path,” asserted against services which use a push mechanism to get notifications to devices such as update badges sent to iPhone and iPad applications.

3. United States Patent No. 6,321,092, entitled “Multiple input data management for wireless location-based applications,” asserted against devices such as iPhones and iPads which use more than one source of location information, for example GPS, Wi-Fi and cell tower location.

4. United States Patent No. 6,532,446, entitled “Server based speech recognition user interface for wireless devices,” asserted against wireless server-assisted speech recognition for personal assistant services and dictation, such as Siri on iPhones and iPads.

5. United States Patent No. 6,647,260, entitled “Method and System Facilitating Web Based Provisioning of Two-Way Mobile Communications Devices,” asserted against Appstores for selecting and downloading applications on devices such as iPhones and iPads.

6. United States Patent No. 6,813,491, entitled “Method and apparatus for adapting settings of wireless communication devices in accordance with user proximity,” asserted against ways of using motion and proximity sensors to control devices like iPhones and iPads.

7. United States Patent No. 7,020,685, entitled “Method and apparatus for providing internet content to SMS-based wireless devices,” asserted against automated searching and information delivery based on keywords in a message from a mobile device, for example as used in Siri for iPhones and iPads.

8. United States Patent No. 7,233,790, entitled “Device capability based discovery, packaging and provisioning of content for wireless mobile devices,” asserted against digital stores with content and Apps for devices with different capabilities, for example the App Store for iPhones and iPads.

9. United States Patent No. 7,299,033, entitled “Domain-based management of distribution of digital content from multiple wireless services subscribers,” asserted against services such as iTunes or the App Store that distribute digital content to multiple domains, internationally.

10. United States Patent No. 7,522,927, entitled “Interface for wireless location information,” asserted against ways of obtaining device location information such as Find my iPhone, Find my iPad and Find my Friends.

The complaint against Google specifically alleges that infringing Google products and services include, among others:

  • Search and Advertising Systems and/or Services (including Google
    Search, Google AdWords, Google+Local, Google Places, Google Mobile
    Ads),
  • Mobile Digital Content Systems and/or Services (including Google Play,
    Google Apps, Bouncer, C2DM, and GCM),
  • Cloud Messaging Systems and/or Services (including C2DM and GCM),
  • Maps and Location Systems and/or Services (including Android Location,
    Google Maps, Google Street View, Google Latitude, Google My Location,
    Google+, Google+Local, Google Places),
  • Short-Range Radio Communications Systems and/or Services (including
    Google Wallet, Google Offers, and Google Mobile Ads), and
  • Mobile Devices (including mobile phones and tablets with the Android
    operating system, including Motorola Mobility and Nexus mobile phones
    and tablets).

The patents asserted against Google are:

1. United States Patent No. 6,292,657, entitled “Method and Architecture for Managing a Fleet of Mobile Stations Over Wireless Data Networks,” asserted against mass updates to applications installed on devices such as Android phones and tablets.

2. United States Patent No. 6,654,786, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Informing Wireless Clients about Updated Information,” asserted against push mechanisms to get updated information to devices such as Android phones and tablets.

3. United States Patent No. 6,662,016, entitled “Providing Graphical Location Information for Mobile Resources Using a Data-Enabled Network,” asserted against placing a location marker for the current location of a mobile device on a corresponding map, such as My Location in Google Maps.

4. United States Patent No. 6,684,087, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Displaying Images on Mobile Devices,” asserted against zooming into a map on devices such as Android phones and tablets, and providing zoomed-in images to users of Google Maps.

5. United States Patent No. 6,895,240, entitled “Method and Architecture for Managing a Fleet of Mobile Stations over Wireless Data Networks,” asserted against group and mass notifications/updates to mobile devices such as Android phones and tablets.

6. United States Patent No. 6,944,760, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Protecting Identities of Mobile Devices on a Wireless Network,” asserted against authenticated push of information from application developers to devices such as Android phones and tablets.

7. United States Patent No. 7,024,205, entitled “Subscriber Delivered Location-Based Services,” asserted against search and advertising using location, such as sponsored links in Google searches which are paid for using Google Adwords.

8. United States Patent No. 7,035,647, entitled “Efficient Location Determination for Mobile Units,” asserted against identifying the location of a device, such as an Android phone or tablet, with increased accuracy using multiple sources, such as GPS, Wi-Fi and cell tower location.

9. United States Patent No. 7,203,752, entitled “Method and System for Managing Location Information for Wireless Communications Devices,” asserted against privacy control for applications requesting access to the location to a device, such as an Android phone or tablet.

10. United States Patent No. 7,463,151, entitled “Systems and Methods for Providing Mobile Services Using Short-Range Radio Communication Devices,” asserted against devices with advanced Near Field Communications (NFC) services, such as NFC-based commerce, advertising and coupons, and access to content using NFC.


Intellectual Property, NetTALK, Voice, Voice over Internet Protocol

netTALK.com Inc. Gets VoIP Multi-connection Device Patent

netTALK.com Inc. today announced the grant of U.S. Pat. No. 8,243,722 titled “VOIP Analogue Telephone System” This unique invention allows a voice-over-IP user to connect via Ethernet, USB, WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, 3G, 4G, or other wireless protocols, a VoIP call seamlessly between devices and netTALK switching centers.

The grant of the ’722 patent reflects the efforts carried out by netTALK and its engineering team to bring the “First of its Kind” Multi-connection device to the market. netTALK is the pioneer in creating devices that allow customers to travel anywhere and take their low priced telephone service with them. netTALK was the very first company in the world to have a dual connectivity VoIP device with its TK6000/DUO that allowed the user to use either USB or Ethernet connection.

This was followed by another first with the introduction of the DUO WiFi that allows the user to choose USB, Ethernet or WiFi connectivity for their telephone service. netTALK’s ongoing innovation supports its growth initiatives in many sectors, including its new mobile app for Android and iPhones, mobile cell phone service, video, SMS texting, and other services which enables customers to free themselves from traditional high cost service providers. Other pending US and international patent applications are in review, reinforcing netTALK’s commitment to develop and protect innovative technologies that better serve the needs of netTALK’s customers.