The day after the ‘net neutrality vote’

by | Apr 7, 2014 | News from around the Web

From Regulation Watch – Feed of all News articles: The day after the ‘net neutrality vote’ “ On Thursday April 3, the European Parliament voted in favour of a legislative package to protect network neutrality and abolish mobile roaming fees within the European Union. 534 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted for the so called Connected Continent telecommunications measures proposed by the European Commission with several amendments. The measures would put a lid on so-called managed services by forcing internet service providers to refrain from blocking and/or slowing down internet services provided by their competitors. Also, roaming charges applied to mobile phone users when outside their country of residence would be foiled effective December 15, 2015. Only 25 MEPs opposed the measures, 58 abstained. The ‘continent is not connected yet’, though, as the measures will translate into law only once they have been approved by the European Council, a powerful body representing EU member states. A decision by the Council is expected in October 2014. “The Council can change the text if it likes. If it does so, the Parliament will have several more goes at it. Everything depends on the lobbying power of the telecom groups in the Council,” says Andrej Savin, Law Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. “I personally think it unlikely that this will pass the Council without some struggle.” Different stakeholders have left no doubt that they will engage in a fierce battle. Industry divided, consumers united The industry group European Telecommunications Network Operators (ETNO) criticised the outcome of the vote, arguing that there is a risk of derailing from the original objectives, “namely...

Missed Opportunities for Alice, Software at the Supreme Court

by | Apr 1, 2014 | News from around the Web

From IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Patent Law: Missed Opportunities for Alice, Software at the Supreme Court “It seems undeniable that Alice missed many opportunities to score easy points. Indirect arguments were made by Alice that didn’t seem very persuasive. Indeed, if one is to predict the outcome of the case based on oral arguments alone it did not go well for Alice today. Only three things give Alice supporters hope after this oral argument as far as I can tell. First, the government seems to be asking the Supreme Court to overrule precedent in Bilski that is not even four years old, which simply isn’t going to happen. Second, the egregious overreach and outright misleading nature of the CLS Bank argument should raise a legitimate question or two in the mind of the Justices. Third, the reality simply is that at least the systems claims recite numerous specific, tangible elements such that it should be impossible to in any intellectually honest way find those claims to cover an abstract...

Justices Skeptical of Software Patent

by | Apr 1, 2014 | News from around the Web

From Law Blog: Justices Skeptical of Software Patent “ REUTERS Supreme Court justices sought to find the line distinguishing abstract ideas available to all from patentable software inventions during an hour of argument that touched on innovations from the ancient abacus to the shopping platform of...