After years of patent pending actions for the mainstream social media networking company, Twitter finally gets a patent for… Twitter. Unbelievable to many, the company and its broad patent can finally take full ownership over tweeting, and perhaps much more, in the future.

Apple Inc. is one of the valuable brands on the planet. Ownership of powerful trademarks such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, and others has made Apple one of the premier intellectual property powerhouses in the world. Recently, however, Apple has been running into a few problems concerning its intellectual property or, in a few cases, lack [...]

At the end of February, Google and Spain’s data protection authority, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), came head-to-head in the European Court of Justice. As European data protection efforts continue to zero in on search engines, this will be one of the most hotly anticipated decisions around the world (for those of us interested [...]

Apple recently filed a patent for a “personal items network” which relies on movement-monitoring devices (MMDs) and event monitoring devices (EMDs).  This device will allow you to track all personal items–from the keys you’re always misplacing to yourself.  According to the patent, the “invention specifically relates to sensing and reporting events associated with movement, environmental [...]

New Hampshire and other states are trying to decide whether or not to give the executor of an estate control over the deceased person’s social networking pages such as Facebook and Twitter.  One former Oklahoma state legislator, Ryan Kiesel, argues that the solution should come from the federal government so an estate can look to [...]

Apple’s at is again. The company has file a patent meant to improve the quality of smartphone pictures.  The program would have the device doing the work for us by allowing for continuous image capture and then giving the phone the choice of the best picture.  The new camera implementation works by starting to take [...]

To Richard Posner, patent protection is less important in some industries than in others. Last June, Judge Posner dismissed a case in which Apple and Motorola sued each other for alleged infringement of patents for smartphone components.  The problem, according to Posner, was that neither party had properly calculated damages.  “[G]uesswork,” he wrote, referring to [...]

Some of the most famous buildings outlining the landscapes of city skylines have been trademarked.  The US Patent and Trademark Office has recognized trademarks in such landmarks as the Empire State Building, Grand Central Terminal, the Chrysler Building, the Sears Tower, the Transamerica Building, and most recently, nationwide Apple stores.  Though trademarks are typically considered [...]

Apple has recently been awarded a trademark for its store’s distinctive layout and design. Microsoft trademarked its own retail store design back in 2011.

Google recently released their transparency report detailing information regarding government requests for Google users’ data. It contains some interesting information, including Google’s compliance rates. Although Google still complies with most government requests the percentage has declined a little from one year ago. Most of the requests Google gets are under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. [...]