Tuesday, October 16, 2007

U.S. Patent Office Agrees To Re-Examine NeoMedia's Mobile Barcode Patent


In my opinion, this event could be the tipping point for mobile bar code adoption in the U.S.

NeoMedia Technologies, labeled a patent troll, has garnished quite a reputation in the Physical World Connection space.
mobile barcode
In April 07, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) took aim at a bogus patent threatening innovative technologies that enhance consumer awareness, requesting a reexamination by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).

Due to clerical errors, the EFF had to refile the patent exam Request Of NeoMedia's "Bogus Patent".

On Oct 16, 2007 the U.S.Patent and Trade Mark Office ordered a re-examination of NeoMedia's patent.

To see the filing:
1) Go to http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair
2) Select "Control No." as the input
3) Enter 90/008779

I couldn't find this announcement on NeoMedia's website, but their latest financial filing outlines the risks to the company if this re-examination were to occur.

On October 15, the day before the Patent Office ordered the re-examination, the Chairman and member of NeoMedia's Board resignation became effective .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wait.....this can't be true is it? Seems for months I read on blog after blog, and financial message board after board that the USPTO had upheld or validated NEOMs patents. I guess that group of spammers just had it all wrong?

I expect that the judge hearing the NEOM/SCABUY case with markman hearings scheduled in January, may just want to postpone any decisions while the reexam is in process. Even if he were inclined to make a ruling at the markman hearings instead of the case proceeding to a trial.